A/N: This is just a filler chapter everyone. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, its characters or the products/brands shown in this chapter.
One month later.
Orihime swayed back and forth and patted the infants back when her cries became tough, staccato coughs.
"Shh… shh…" Orihime switched Hitomi to her other shoulder when she cries became too loud for her close ear. "It's okay… mommy's here."
Tear droplets began forming at the ends of her wrinkly eyes. Dr. Koruba told the mother that it was alright to let Hitomi cry alone for a while, but Orihime could not- just would not- leave her baby in a time of need.
The mother caressed the infant's thin layer of soft brown hair. "I know Tomi… I know."
Hitomi's colic was leaving, as her pediatrician had said, but the last day and a half, Hitomi couldn't stop crying. Orihime guessed it was just the last of her colic leaving her system before it was completely gone.
"Mommy…"
Tamotsu stood in the doorway, rubbing his sandy eyes and yawning really wide. "Mommy, I'm sleepy…."
Orihime sighed. She was hoping this wouldn't happen. Hitomi's cries have woken up Tamotsu before but she always hated having to coax two babies back to sleep.
"Tamotsu, I'm sorry. Try to go back to bed honey."
Tamotsu wanted to stay. He wanted to try to help, but his body told him otherwise. The child crept back into his room.
Orihime sat down and bounced Hitomi on her knees. Hitomi's wispy eyebrows knitted together and she opened her mouth wider, letting out a heartbreaking scream.
Ichigo returned to the baby room. He held two mugs. One filled with coffee and the other with red raspberry leaf tea. "My turn."
There was a quick exchange between parents until Ichigo ended up rocking his daughter and Orihime was drinking out of her mug of tea.
"She likes it when you hold her." Orihime observed.
Ichigo noticed it too. Hitomi's voice had lowered considerably, until it was literally a muffled mewling. Hitomi laid her head on her father's shoulder and released a few drowned out whines.
The father rubbed Hitomi's back in slow, leisure movements. "Yeah, but there's nothing like a mother's touch."
Hitomi became hungry which kept her crying at bay. It was the last night of Hitomi's excessive crying much to the family's relief.
The next night, Hitomi slept through every noise, creak, squeak, and bump. And Ichigo and Orihime slept like babies.
Three months later.
"Ah?"
"Ah!"
Hitomi considered her mother's answer before responding again.
"….Gah?"
Orihime threw her sudsy hands into the air and grinned. "Gah!"
Hitomi seemed to be satisfied with that answer.
Orihime continued lathering Hitomi's back and gradually moved to the infant's stomach, earning a bright smile from her daughter. She held her head up throughout the whole process for Hitomi didn't have complete neck support.
"This is your tummy…." Orihime stated, using the sponge in a repeated circular motion on her belly.
Hitomi smiled her gummy smile at her mother.
"This is your chin." Orihime tapped a sudsy finger on the infant's chubby jaw line, creating a trailing bubbly beard.
Hitomi was developing wonderfully. But Dr. Koruba said she wasn't in the green yet. Though her birth was a spontaneous one at 34 weeks and everything seemed fine, there was the slightest chance there would be a few complication in the future.
At this point in the game, there was nothing Orihime couldn't handle.
In her bedroom, Hitomi lay on her back as Orihime rubbed her dry.
As before, Orihime was awaiting the day she'll laugh. How hearing Tamotsu's laughter would make her swell with all kinds of emotion! She just wanted to relive it all over again.
Hitomi reached up and grabbed for long, thick strands of burnt-orange hair. She brought the fiery locks to her mouth but Orihime swiped them behind her shoulder before they could reach the babe's tongue.
Hitomi's own hair was something to behold. She was born with sandy brown hair, but at the roots, you could see orange- Ichigo's orange- sprouting out amongst the ochre.
The mother knew Hitomi's expressions well enough to divert her cries. It was hard to deny Hitomi anything without the waterworks that followed.
Orihime grasped her ankles and lifted them up, bouncing her bottom against the bed. "And this is your feet!"
Hitomi's frown immediately switched into a silent smile.
Orihime kissed the soles of her feet and up to her wriggling appendages. "Toes!"
Hitomi cooed and smiled. "Gah!"
"Good job!"
Orihime finished dressing her, naming each part of her body as she went along.
Hitomi responded once in a while, when she saw fit. Her goo's and aah's were completely adorable.
"Now, let's go see what's for lunch!"
…
After both of the girls ate- Orihime: leftover pork chops and rice and Hitomi: a large helping of nutrition milk and a good burping- the duo put on some music to burn off some energy.
Over the months, Orihime had become an expert in Hitomi's musical preferences. The babe despised Classical- much to Orihime's disappointment. Pop wasn't really her thing, unless her rattle was handy, and Country and Hip-Hop made her cry to the high heavens.
Her real passion was Jazz. Orihime guessed it was the drums and the smoothness of the saxophones… or trumpets? Whichever blow-y instrument it was, Hitomi would rest her heavy head on her mother's breast as Orihime bopped around the room, rocking her daughter gently.
After a feeding and some Jazz, Hitomi was out cold. She would lie on her back in her square playpen and suck on her pacifier. The last thing she would see is her mommy's face, kissing her on the cheek.
This was a great moment for Orihime to get some rest too. Yes, there were dishes to do and rooms to vacuum, but Hitomi still cried during the day though her colic was gone. It was the perfect time to get some extra shut-eye.
Orihime took a sofa pillow and tucked it under her head. She slept on the floor by the playpen, keeping her eyes open 'til they became too heavy to bear.
…
Ichigo scratched his orange head and crawled under the covers. "How was your day?"
Orihime smiled. "The usual." She closed her favorite book and placed it on her nightstand. "Hitomi slept most of the day, crying when any little thing was wrong."
Ichigo lifted an orange eyebrow. "Isn't her colic clearing up?"
Orihime crossed her arms. "That's what I thought…. Maybe it was just one of those times, you know."
Ichigo moved closer and nodded. "Yeah, I guess." He wrapped an arm around her waist and began stroking her arm gently. "Are you still really tired?"
Ichigo hoped she got the hint.
Orihime threw her arms in the air in defeat. "Yes! So tired! She'll probably be up again tonight! We better get some rest."
She was oblivious. That was Orihime for you. Ichigo leaned off of her but not without kissing her shoulder first.
"You're right…" Ichigo said before pushing the blanket up against him. "We better get some rest."
One month later.
Orihime pointed at the window. "Look at that!"
Hitomi lifted her chubby arm and spoke though she didn't know what her nearsighted eyes were looking at. "Baa?"
Orihime nodded encouragingly. "Bird. It's a bird!"
The bird pecked at the ground for the bread crumbs Orihime scattered outside last night. Staring out the window always gave the girls something to do. It was great for Hitomi to try to identify objects and it was great for Orihime to watch, fascinated.
"Do you see the clouds? Aren't they pretty?" Orihime pointed at the sky. "White and fluffy!" Hitomi looked up at her fingers and reached for them.
Hitomi had an obsession with putting things in her mouth. No matter what it was! Since she was out of the womb, she was grasping and grabbing for anything to suck on and explore with her tongue. It was so cute, but Orihime didn't want Hitomi to become too attached to the act.
Hitomi was now becoming irritated with how hard it was to get to her mommy's fingers. Orihime refused to lend the infant her hand. The mother glance around for her pacifier but Hitomi started making that mewling noise. It was the calm before the storm.
Maybe she could give up… just this once.
Hitomi smiled as she slobbered on Orihime's knuckles. The mother found her pacifier on the table beside her and slipped it in Hitomi's mouth. The babe grabbed her mommy's shirt, held on tight, and lowered her head on her breast, content."
Orihime giggled at how flip-floppy her attitudes could be. "You are just a ball of energy," she said and began rocking the child.
"You know, you would keep me up all night when you where still in my belly. It was the weirdest thing." Orihime glanced down at the infant's fiery haired head. Dr. Koruba said she likes the sound of her voice. It helped to just talk to her about anything and she would gladly respond when she saw fit.
"…I think it was partly my fault because I would eat chocolate which was filled with caffeine and you would just kick and move all around. Then I would walk around for awhile… you were so active."
Hitomi lifted her heavy head and Orihime held her neck for support. She spoke and the pacifier fell out.
"A-ga?"
Orihime nodded, repeated her, and placed the pacifier back in. Hitomi snuggled back down between her mother's warm breasts.
It was quiet except for the muffled murmurs of the television downstairs. It was the voices of Patrick Star and SpongeBob SquarePants goofing about that disturbed the near silent perfection.
Hitomi's wrinkly lids began slowly drooping over amber irises. Orihime rubbed her back. "I think it's about nap time." Hitomi gripped her mother's shirt tighter. She smiled at her persistence. "Oh no, don't try to fight it."
Orihime could hear her son's tiny feet coming up the stairs. "Mommy, can we go to the park?" Tamotsu asked as he entered his baby sister's room.
Orihime returned the tiring child back into her crib. "Maybe later."
Orihime lead her son back downstairs. SpongBob was still playing on the television. He was delivery pizza through a sand storm while Squidward Tentacles sulked, hungrily in the background.
In the kitchen, Orihime pulled out a container of Jif peanut and butter celery from the refrigerator and a mini box of raisins from the cabinet.
She then sliced the celeries down the middle to create halves. Tamotsu watch his mommy put the raisins in a bowl and took all her means to the kitchen table. The boy followed giddily, happy because he knew what he got to do next.
Orihime took a butter knife and spread the peanut butter in the middle or each individual celery stick.
Tamotsu took a handful or raisins from their bowl and plopped a few on each peanut butter stuffed stick.
The duo munched on their crunchy sticks, each beaming delightfully at each other.
"Tamotsu… you know your birthday is coming up soon." Orihime placed the remaining raisins in the refrigerator. "Who do you want to invite?"
Tamotsu threw his sticky hands in the air with enthusiasm. A few loose raisins flew off of their gooey log. "Misoka! Misoka and Hiroyuki!"
Orihime turned and watched Tamotsu blow his air upward to remove a strand of dark brown hair from his face without the use of his sticky hands, but it fell right back into place afterwards.
His face twisted into a scowl, but he just shook his head and continued munching on his ants on a log.
Orihime giggled. "I figured as much."
A few days later.
"Geronimo!"
Hitomi released a high pitched squeal.
Ichigo picked up a plushy, colorful fish and dropped it on Hitomi's round tummy.
Before the infant could catch her breath from the last outburst, she shrieked in delight from the recent stunt.
"She'll burst if she continues laughing like that."
Ichigo smirked at the five month old infant. "Is mommy being jealous?"
Orihime slammed down her basket of laundry. "I am not jealous!"
She was not jealous! Maybe… just a little…. Just a smidgen…. She was jealous.
She was jealous because she couldn't make Hitomi laugh. If Orihime tried to do anything remotely funny like silly faces or dancing or making sounds, Hitomi would stare at her, smile at the most. But it was Ichigo who could open the gates.
Anything! Anything he did. If it was opening the morning paper to opening the refrigerator, Hitomi would go into this laughing-fit! It wasn't fair in Orihime's eyes.
Ichigo finished pulling up her cream colored jumper. "At least it's better than crying." He brought her up to his shoulder and let her rest there. "And look, she's making some progress."
All Orihime could do was roll her eyes. Ichigo stayed home for a few weeks with Hitomi until he couldn't prolong work anymore. Yes, he was a victim of her colic too, but he didn't have to deal with it through the day too.
And why was it so easy for him anyway? He was the dad. She was the mom. The baby was supposed to love her more…. Not that it was a competition or anything…
A harrumphed escaped her lips when her husband kissed her on the cheek. "Here, you take Tomi and I'll take this box to the trunk."
Ichigo lifted the heavy, gift wrapped box with the giant green bow and left the bedroom.
Orihime placed a yellow headband atop her daughter's head. "You're still adorable though," she said out loud.
They all left in the family's new Honda CR-V. Ichigo sold his beloved corvette, not because he didn't want to, but because he didn't feel the need to have it anymore.
"Are you excited?" Orihime asked as she buckled herself in.
Tamotsu squealed against his seatbelt and clapped his hands. "Mommy! It's my birthday!"
Hitomi contributed to the noise by laughing at all of the excitement and noise.
They made their first stop at a barber shop. Once Orihime saw those shears rise she broke down in tears. Tamotsu had gotten his hair cut plenty of times before, but it grew so thick, so fast, that Orihime hated seeing it go. She still had the first few snippets of his dark hair from when he was three months old, the first time.
"Orihime, it's okay." Ichigo whispered, squeezing her shoulder. "I know…" Orihime sniffled. "But… it's not the same. He's five now, this is a huge milestone…" Orihime wiped at the corner of her eyes. "He's growing up too fast, Ichigo."
Tamotsu grinned at the barber as he heard the electric razor beam to life. He giggled as the tool vibrated against his head, moving from the back of his head to the top.
Orihime covered her mouth from shouting out like the last time. Clumps of his hair fell to the ground as the barber worked around the boy's head.
In about fifteen minutes top, Tamotsu was rubbing his hand along his shaved head. "Look mommy!" He shook his head from side to side, feeling the air surround his face. "I got a cut hair! I got a cut hair!"
"It's a haircut, champ." Ichigo corrected. He paid the barber and they all left the shop again.
Orihime turned in her seat to stare at the young child rubbing his near bald head. "It's too short! He looks like he belongs in the military!"
Ichigo sighed and kept his eyes on the road. "He looks fine, Orihime."
The family made it to their final destination- BabyCakes. Orihime would stop here once or twice during the weeks. It was the only way to get out of the house besides grocery shopping, or going on long walks with Hitomi to shred some extra weight.
The first few months after Hitomi's birth, Orihime avoided sex with Ichigo at all costs. She was too embarrassed with her body. With Tamotsu, it all snapped back into place a few days later. But with Hitomi, extra weight still hung around in places that weren't meant for hanging.
It was terrible the first time they tried, post-Hitomi. Ichigo's body was toned and muscular. Somewhere amongst the drama in their lives, he managed to make it to the gym once in a while. While Orihime was frumpy, and tired, and wore this old oversized T-shirt which Ichigo tried to remove but Orihime refused and it ended with a giant, confused, awkward silence.
Well, after a few strenuous lessons with Tatsuki and other postpartum workouts, things slowly morphed into better places. And sex wasn't a problem anymore, though Ichigo didn't mind her figure in the first place, claiming that he didn't care what size she was, that he loved her for who she was.
Sex definitely wasn't a problem anymore.
Tamotsu ran into the building as shouted and danced in place.
All of the tables had green striped tablecloths and sparkly dinosaur centerpiece.
Misoka and Hiroyuki waved at the boy. There were a few other preschoolers, those Orihime didn't recognize. Ichigo and Orihime made small talk with their parents while the kids played Pin-the-tail-on-the-Dinosaur and Repeat It games until the birthday cake was brought out from the kitchen.
All the children burst in laughter at the sight of the fat dino and its skinny arms and neck. Ichigo helped with guiding Tamotsu's hand during the first slicing. There was no shortage of pictures taken.
It made Orihime happy to see Tamotsu happy.
It was hard with the newborn and all, but her little Monkey had it the hardest. She wasn't able to give him her full attention anymore and she wanted to reach out to him, but her attention could only be stretch so far.
He would understand when he was older. And it wouldn't be all that bad. Hitomi wouldn't be a newborn forever, and Orihime could finally relax and give them equal time.
"Who will you give your first piece to?" Ichigo asked. It was customary when he was growing up that the birthday kid got to hand out the first slice of cake to anyone they wanted.
Tamotsu looked around the room. He looked at Misoka would grinned back but his head twisted and turned until he found what he was looking for. Tamotsu scooted off the chair, took the plate and handed it over to the sleeping baby in his mother's arms.
"Hitomi!" he shouted gleefully.
Everyone clapped at how adorable it all was but Orihime shook her head, smiling. "Tamotsu, Hitomi can't eat cake yet."
Tamotsu looked back down at the plate and back up at his mommy. He turned on his heels and returned to the main table, pushing the plate over to his best friend, Misoka.
Tamotsu couldn't have been any happier that day.
One year later.
Tamotsu ran up the steps, nearly tripping his drowsy father in the process.
Ichigo lifted his leg for his the boy to crawl under. "Woah! Slow down there, champ!"
The man continued down the stairs and into the kitchen where his wife and daughter waited.
Hitomi was humming a
Ichigo kissed his sleepy wife on the cheek before moving to the island where his coffee was brewing. "Morning."
"Morning."
Hitomi raised her soggy hands and waved them in the air. "Bye-bye!"
"Bye-bye" was Hitomi's favorite phrase. Orihime suspected that she picked it up on one of her educational programs, when the hosts and their cartoon friends waved goodbye to everyone at the end of the show. It was basically the only real words she could say aside from 'side (outside), Masoo (Tamotsu), milk, or hunry (hungry).
Orihime was worried as to why her vocabulary was so limited.
Dr. Koruba said it was common for certain milestones to be delayed considering she was a preemie, but Orihime didn't like excuses when it came to her children. She was scared that there must have been something wrong with her.
But only time could tell.
Orihime finished mashing a bowl of mashed bananas and sweet potatoes. She placed the bowl in front of her one and a half year old. "Ichigo, next time you're out, can you pick up more bleach? We ran out."
Ichigo scratched his orange, spiky hair. "Mhmm, sure…"
Hitomi put her spoon down and closed her eyes, deep in concentration. Her hair had grown down to her ears, making her look exactly like a mini, female-version of Ichigo. "E…. e…"
Ichigo put his mug of coffee down. "You okay princess?"
Hitomi huffed and tried again. "…E… Esh… Esh-go…"
Orihime looked up from her own breakfast.
"Eshgo?" Hitomi raised her brows and looked at her parents. "Eshgo!"
Orihime put her fork down on the counter. "No… no, no." Orihime shook her burnt-orange head and approached Hitomi's high chair. "This is daddy."
Hitomi made the concentration face again, determined to get it right. "Oh… or… Or-e-may? Oremay!" She lifted her spoon in the air in triumph, splattering banana and sweet potato mash everywhere. "Oremay!"
Orihime shook her head again and pressed her hand to her chest. "Mommy."
Hitomi stared for a moment and then repeated it again. "Oremay!"
"No!" Orihime pointed at herself then to Ichigo. "Mommy. Daddy."
Hitomi looked at her father. "Eshigo!"
Orihime glanced at her husband. Ichigo smiled wearily and shrugged. "She learning," he whispered.
"Not this way, she isn't." Orihime muttered. The woman placed her hands on her hips stubbornly. "Hitomi. I am mommy. This is daddy."
Hitomi made that face again. "Mm… mm… mammy?"
Both parents sighed in relief.
"Daddy." Orihime repeated.
Hitomi looked at her father, unsure of the answer. "Eshigo?" she said innocently, with large amber eyes.
"Daddy." Orihime said sternly.
"….Addy?"
"Yes!" both parents cheered in unison.
Hitomi smiled gleefully at her parents. "Addy.… Mammy!"
Like I said, a filler. But what do you guys think about Hitomi as a character. I want to make her completely different from Tamotsu, so we'll see her true character develop in later chapters.
I'm working on a new one-shot if anyone's interested. It's called Joy and you can view a preview on a profile.
Anywho, next week's chapter will have more meaning, I promise!
Rocka.