Disclaimer: Me no own Bleach! Continue on you drama-lovers!

Four years later.

Orihime walked past her daughter's room and stared at her playing with her dolls. Hitomi knew they had a big day today, it was her last day in preschool and there was to be some sort of move-up ceremony. "…Hitomi, are you ready?" Orihime asked.

Hitomi grumbled but continued playing with her Barbie dolls. She sat crossed legged on her floor pretending not to hear her mother.

"Hitomi…" Orihime warned.

Hitomi stood. She stomped her foot once but still obeyed her mother, walking out of the room and by her side.

Now, Orihime loved her daughter. But she could be… well… she could be pretty stubborn. Even more stubborn then herself or Ichigo. It was the most frustrating thing to deal with when Hitomi decided her mood for the day. Orihime asked Dr. Koruba when Hitomi would grow out of her "terrible two's". Hitomi was now five and a half.

Orihime put her hands on her wide hips. "Take off the wings."

If Orihime was a fortuneteller, she would have never brought those glittery, pink fairy wings last year for Christmas. Hitomi wore those god forsaken wings every other day. They had lost most of their glitter after the first month and they used to light up but after an accident with the pool, that feature no longer worked. After a year of wear and tear, the top of the right wing what bent and the seams around the edges where in tatters.

…Yet, the toddler insisted on wearing the raggedy thing. And Orihime wasn't heartless. She left her baby have her fun and wear it all the time, but today just wasn't the day.

Hitomi imitated her mother and put her hands on her hips. "Humph."

Orihime crossed her arms. "Hitomi, give it to me."

Now Ichigo, on the other hand, always gave in. He gave Hitomi what she wanted, when she wanted it. And… the subject's been a soft spot for Orihime at the moment.

Ichigo stuck his head through the door, looking from wife to daughter and back. "Let her wear them."

Orihime glared at Ichigo for not being on her side. "But, she can't."

"Why not?"

"Because… because she can't okay." Orihime watched Ichigo pick Hitomi up and hitch her to his hip. "But she looks so damn adorable."

Hitomi laughed when Ichigo kissed her chubby cheek. It was hard for Orihime to stay mad at that. They looked so much alike.

It was exactly split moments like these which Orihime cherished. She liked having a miniature, female, Ichigo running about. Orihime really wanted another, but didn't know how to bring it up again.

Ichigo never made any indication that he wanted another. Seeing him now, playing around with Hitomi, it just made all of their efforts worth it. But wasn't it natural for Orihime to want more?

The woman didn't know if this feeling was greed or need. Either way, Orihime needed to bring the subject back up soon, or maybe it would be too late.

…

"I can't begin to tell you how wonderful it's been to have another Kurosaki under our family roof." A phony smile spread across Miss Haruguchi's thin lips.

Hitomi twisted and fidgeted in her new dress. Orihime could tell she just wanted to run around the classroom with her fairy wings on, crawling and jumping off things. Well, Hitomi, Orihime thought. You'll just have to hold in there.

The woman clapped her pasty thin hands together but the sound rung in Orihime's ears uncomfortably, snapping her back to attention. "She was always very… spirited."

"Spirited" was the best word Miss Haruguchi could use. On many occasions, Hitomi had stirred up trouble within the classrooms of this preschool, from spilling paint all over Miss Haruguchi's dress and shoes –which Ichigo insisted on paying for- to biting another student on the arm. In Hitomi's defense, she was going through a biting phase, and the boy was being very mean!

Orihime smiled. "Thank you, Miss Haruguchi."

"I am bestowing upon her the Spirit award. For always- and I mean always- speaking her mind when ever and wherever she wants." Her face twitched a little when she pulled the plastic medal over the child's head.

Hitomi was outspoken at times, but that was normal for a five year old… right?

After Miss Haruguchi went around the class, giving every preschooler an award, they were allowed to leave. This was to be the last time Orihime would see the preschool again. Ichigo and Orihime had talked about more kids, and after visiting Dr. Urahara a few times, it seemed like a possibility, though the doctor told the couple to err on the side of caution. Anything could happen.

Later that day.

Orihime wrapped her arms around Ichigo from behind and kissed his shoulder.

"Orihime…" he groaned tiredly.

Orihime applied pressure to the base of his neck, working her way down to his shoulder blades. She rubbed her hands gently down his spine and smiled when he responded with a sigh of relief.

Orihime needed to bring up the baby thing now. She hoped he wouldn't try to avert her actions like before. He was so sneaky at it.

"Ori-"

She kissed his cheek and stopped him from talking. "The kids are fast asleep," she whispered in his ear, the trail she made from his shoulder to his ear made him shiver in anticipation. "The house is completely quiet… when will we ever get a better time?"

His lips seized hers' again and Orihime couldn't do anything but melt into his arms. His hands came to the hem of her nightie and slowly rolled it over her arms and head.

Orihime gasped when Ichigo's fingers managed to slip between her pink underwear. "Ichigo!" she blushed and released a silent moan.

Ichigo moved over her, rubbing his lips over her chest. Orihime brought his lips back to his own. Ichigo's hand moved outward and began caressing her inner thigh.

This was easier then I thought, Orihime mentally said to herself. Maybe I should- Oh! …. Maybe the conversation can wait for later…

…

Hitomi rubbed her crusty eyes. She could feel her Chappy pajamas sticking to her skin around her back from her sweat.

The girl felt her eyes become prickly from impending tears. The monsters in her dreams were chasing her again. And every time she thought she was getting away, she would trip and the monsters would catch her!

Hitomi suppressed a cry as tears slipped down her cheeks. It was scary! She thought they were really going to get her this time! …In fact… Hitomi's ears perked up. Did she hear a groan…?

"Aah…"

Hitomi yelped and hid under her blanket. She pulled a few stuffed animals under with her and held on for dear life. The monsters were back! The monsters were in her room, making noises. Hitomi dug her face in her fluffy friends and sat really quiet.

They were going to get her! They were going to get to her and eat her right up!

The little girl tucked the blanket under her feet, so they wouldn't see her and snatch her away.

Hitomi wanted to run to her daddy so he could save her. But if she left, the monsters would surely see her and steal her away and she would never ever see her family again. Never, ever, ever, never again!

"Mmm… oh God…"

…Wait a second… Hitomi gasped. That sounded like her mother!

Hitomi jumped off her bed.

She couldn't let the monsters get to her mother! Even if they wanted to eat her, Hitomi would protect anyone and everyone she loved.

They were going to hurt her! They were going to take her mommy instead? What type of cruel creatures were these?

Hitomi crept through the hall as to not make too much noise. Her tiny, sock clad toes tiptoed on the carpeted floor. If she wasn't careful, the monsters would snatch her too!

And it was there the child heard something peculiar.

"Ichigo…. Oh, yes… unnn…"

It was a breathy, raspy sound, almost muffled. It made Hitomi think hard as to what it meant. It was her mother's voice but not the exact tone she was expecting…

Fresh tears rolled down Hitomi's face. She shook her head in denial of her conclusion.

It was daddy! Daddy was the one hurting her mommy. Daddy was making her say those noises.

Hitomi wanted to run back into her room and hid under her blanket forever! She took a few steps backwards. There was another groan from the other side. She just couldn't leave her mommy in there, she just couldn't!

The girl boldly pushed her parent's door open slowly and stared wide eyed at the adults. "Daddy…?"

…

Ichigo didn't realize how fun it was to try to make Orihime make noises.

It was the quietest they have ever been when together; they should have gotten an award for quietest sex session ever.

"Ichigo…. Oh, yes… unnn…" Orihime bit her bottom lip to keep from crying out.

Ichigo smiled and kissed her, allowing her to release a suppressed moan into him without making to much noise. Yeah, Ichigo thought, the Guinness world records…

"Ichigo, did you hear that?" Orihime abruptly sat up. She pushed Ichigo back a little and craned her neck over his shoulder to look at the door.

"No…" The man kissed her again and pushed her back down. "Just relax. The kids are sleeping…" He reminded her. Ichigo turned her body under him and he got a view of her glorious backside. Orihime began sighing again when he rubbed his large hands against her spine, the same way she did for him.

Ichigo smirked. She got him in the mood, so she was going to follow through.

"Daddy…?"

Orihime jumped up. "Ichigo!"

Ichigo turned to the tiny voice. His daughter had tears streaking down her wide, innocently scared face.

Under the covers, the adults threw items of their clothes back on before running over to the frightened child.

Orihime bent down to her daughter's level, squatting in front of her and wiping her face off. "Hitomi, baby… why- why are you up, honey?"

Ichigo took the moment to pull his boxers back on under the covers while Hitomi was distracted. Orihime had already stolen his shirt at the moment so he got up and squatted by his daughter too.

Hitomi sniffled and looked around the bedroom. She didn't see any monsters…. But why was daddy nakey-nakey on mommy? Was he really hurting her?

"What are you doing?" she demanded.

Orihime continued wiping overlooked tears. "Nothing baby…" the mother looked up at husband. "…we were just…"

"Umm…"

"Wrestling," they said in unison.

Ichigo smiled at Hitomi. "Hitomi what's wrong, why are you awake?" He reached up to the child's face and wiped her tears away.

"I had a bad dream…" Her tiny pink lips started to wobble. "The monsters were trying to get me daddy…" She squeezed her amber eyes shut. "And they were getting mommy!"

"How about we go check it out-" Orihime reached out for her hand but the child recoiled. Hitomi threw her arms around Ichigo's neck. "No! I want daddy!"

Orihime was stunned. Hitomi had never rejected her so harshly before.

Ichigo gave his wife a weary smile before picking up Hitomi's small frame and carrying her out of the room.

"Was that noise the monsters….?" Orihime heard Hitomi ask as her voice faded down the corridor.

…

"I want this one… and this one… Oh! And these!" Hitomi reached for boxes of cereal and pushed them over the edge of the shopping cart.

Orihime shook her head at her daughters' choices. "Hitomi, put this back."

Orihime needed to get out of the house and away from Ichigo. After the whole caught-in-the-act fiasco, Ichigo said they should refrain from sex for awhile, just until things blew over.

Hitomi pouted. "But I like Wheaty Kitty! This is the best stuff on earth!" She lifted the colorful box of cereal over her head, hopped up and down in place, and then began singing the commercial jingle, her orangey-brown pigtails bouncing up and down as she went. Even her crooked fairy wings danced and glittered under the bright store lights.

"Look at that kitty go! I guess the cat's out the box!"

Ichigo had checked under the bed, in the closet, and in all the drawers. He reassured his daughter there were no monsters, and dodged every question about the animalistic noises she heard. One story and a kiss later, she was fast asleep.

Orihime cursed those monsters to every kind of hell there was. She wasn't trying to trap Ichigo, just gently ease him into the right frame of mind. She wouldn't be able to have another baby if she wasn't able to actually get "it" in.

Hitomi continued singing the jingle, trying to get her mother's attention again. Orihime rubbed her aching forehead and breathed heavily. "Hitomi, I said put it back."

Hitomi hated not getting her way. But she put the box back anyway as slowly as she possibly could, hoping that her mother would change her mind. She didn't.

"Tamotsu, what do you want?" Orihime had almost forgotten he was there. The nine year old was constantly quiet. And if he didn't have his nose in a book, he was at a friends house, and if not that, a pencil in one hand homework in the other.

Tamotsu glanced up from his book. "Hmm?"

Orihime waited patiently. "What cereal?"

Tamotsu gazed at the wall of colorful boxes. "…I don't know…" It so happened that he picked up the most colorful one of them all. "These."

Wheaty Kitty.

"Alright," Orihime mumbled and put the box in the shopping cart. "Fine."

Hitomi laughed at the irony of it all and began reciting the jingle all over again.

"Look at that kitty go! I guess the cat's out the box!"

…

Hitomi's amber eyes followed one movement to the next. She couldn't resist scampering to the kitchen when the smell of chocolate chips wafted through the house. "Mommy, can I have a cookie?"

Orihime continued transferring the cooled cookies onto a plate. "Not now, Hitomi. You can have one after dinner."

Hitomi was never a girl to take "no" for an answer.

Hitomi stood by the counter, he small finger grasping at the sides, straining to see over the marble. "But-but-"

"Hitomi, I said no."

The little girl harrumphed. If she couldn't get what she wanted directly, she'd use a different strategy. A back way, a shortcut.

She child hopped down the steps, to the basement where her daddy's office was. Hitomi poked her head over her father's desk. "Daddy… I watcha doing?" He was writing something down on a piece of paper. He was using a pen. Mommy said she wasn't allowed to use pens because they are messy. Hitomi wanted to use a pen too.

Ichigo sighed. "Work, honey."

Hitomi pushed a stool next to his desk and hopped on it. She loomed over his paperwork and stared at her working father. "Can I work with you?"

"We can't play right now, this is big person work."

"But I can work too!" Hitomi ran upstairs and was back in Ichigo's office within seconds with a piece of yellow construction paper and a purple marker. The child crawled back onto the stool and began writing words that rhymed together, like scat and cat, just like the way she learned from Miss Haruguchi.

Ichigo watched her oversized letters take up the yellow paper. "See!"

"Hitomi…" Ichigo sighed again, tired. "…is there anything you need right now?"

A mischievous grin crawled onto Hitomi's tiny lips. "…can I have a cookie?"

Ichigo nodded. "Sure, why not."

Hitomi pouted and raised her hands. "But I can't reach them!"

Ichigo put his pen down. He walked back up the stairs, Hitomi followed behind, right on his heels. Ichigo handed her one cookie and returned to his den in the basement.

Hitomi took a huge bite the first time and smiled at how amazingly her plan worked. She walked into the living room, passing her brother who was reading a book on the couch.

"The ants go marching two by two, hoorah, hoorah! Ants march by three by three, hoorah, hoorah…. um… The ants are marching five by five…"

Orihime stopped when she saw Hitomi nibbling on a chocolate chip cookie, her fingers were sticky with the dark substance and she sucked it all off on by one.

Orihime put her magazine down, flabbergasted. "…Hitomi…. Didn't I say no cookies?"

Hitomi enlarged her amber eyes; muster the most innocent look possible. "Daddy gave it to me!"

Orihime didn't know how she got down there so fast, but before she knew it, she was standing in front of Ichigo's desk.

Ichigo slowly looked up at his irate wife. "Everything okay?" He asked, straightening up.

Orihime shook her head. "Ichigo, this babying Hitomi business has got to stop."

Ichigo frowned. "Babying Hitomi… what are you talking about?"

"I specifically told her she couldn't have a cookie before dinner yet she walks around, sucking the chocolate off her fingers as we speak!"

"So… it was only one cookie."

Ichigo was genuinely confused.

Orihime crossed her arms. "Yeah, and one cookie turns into two, then four, then ten!"

"Where is all of this coming from?" Ichigo stood up and walked around his desk. "Is this all because-"

"This is all because you spoil her!"

The cat was definitely out of the bag- or should it say box?

"I do not!" Ichigo spat back.

"You do too! She has more toys up there then she can count!" Orihime put her hands on her hips. "You buy her endless crap and all she has to do is poke out her lip."

"And what about you? You don't give her enough love!"

"Oh please, yes I do."

"No, you don't. But when Tamotsu gets an award- or anything! You're happy about it. You'll give him anything he wants. What about Hitomi?"

Tamotsu and Hitomi sat at the top of the basement stairs, listening in on the argument going on downstairs.

Hitomi looked up at her big brother. "Mommy and daddy are screaming…"

"That has nothing to do with-"

"You aren't proud of her!"

Hitomi's eyes began to water and Tamotsu rubbed her back soothingly. It was rare their parents ever raised their voices at each other. But Tamotsu remembered, vaguely though.

He remembered his mommy crying and upset after voice were raised. He remembered telling his friend Misoka that he would never make her cry. The same went for his little sister.

Orihime shook her head. "I never said I wasn't!"

"But you never said you were!" Ichigo grasped his spiky, orange hair. "You just assumed that since Tamotsu isn't-"

Ichigo stopped abruptly stopped mid-sentence. The whole house seemed to tilt in anticipation.

Orihime didn't want to think about what would have come next.

…Since Tamotsu isn't my son, I love Hitomi more….

His unfinished sentence lingered in the air for a few moments before he turned on his heels and went back to his desk.

"I have work to do," Ichigo mumbled over his shoulder.

Orihime didn't know where to go from here. She didn't even know she confronted Ichigo anyway. Orihime took a deep breath. "Yeah, well, me too!" She turned around and stomped up the steps, ignoring the fact that she heard her children scrambling away from the door.

A few days later.

Ichigo poked his head out the back door. Orihime was sitting in a chair belonging to their patio set. She was reading, taking her time flipping the page.

After a minute she looked up at him. "Hi."

"Hey." Ichigo stepped onto the deck, a little embarrassed at being caught. "…Nice weather."

Orihime turned another page. "Mhmm."

The man pulled out a wrought iron chair and leaned forward. Ichigo had gone over this conversation in his mind a few times during the days. He couldn't let what he said hang around in the air anymore. Every time he passed Orihime, or looked at her, he felt a buzz of shame. It didn't help that she acted like nothing was wrong.

"Orihime… It's not that I don't love Tamotsu…" Ichigo closed his eyes and raked his hands through his hair. "…I'm just harder on him because I have so much faith in him. He's a wonderful son; I couldn't have asked anything more."

Ichigo looked up at his wife. Her expression didn't change, not that he was looking for a reaction. She just turned another page in her book.

Ichigo continued. "I love him. Not because I have to but because I just do. He's my boy and I'm trying to raise him the best I can. The best I know."

There was "thump" sound and Ichigo looked up again. Orihime's book lay on the glass table. She, on the other hand, had her arms crossed, looking out into the yard.

Ichigo found his opportunity and scooted his chair closer. "And I know you care about Hitomi just as much. You love our children equally and I do too, but I just show it differently… and so do you."

Orihime turned her head slowly. Her brows were crumbled together and she made a worried face that Ichigo hadn't seen in a long time. She looked like the younger Orihime, with her wide, watery, gray eyes and tumbling burnt-orange hair.

"…. I'm sorry." She whispered. "Hitomi's not that spoiled. And I've contributed to it too… I mean, I'm a sucker for her crying too."

Ichigo grinned his sparkling grin. "Those big brown eyes."

Orihime nodded, beginning to smile too. "Those cheeks."

Yes, Hitomi was a mischievous one. But Orihime loved her. She was also brave and courageous, willing to fight through a horde of monsters to save her mother.

It was quiet again. Though he was making small talk, Ichigo was right. It was nice out. Not too warm, but a light breeze passed by from time to time, evening it all out.

Ichigo looked back over at Orihime. She was staring off in space again. "I feel like you're holding back from me… is there anything you want to tell me?"

Orihime shrugged and smiled back at him again, this time a little more weary. "No… I'm happy… I'm…"

It was quiet, again.

Orihime looked back out at the yard.

"I know you want more children." She heard him say.

The mother let her head fall in shame.

Ichigo watched her crossed arms tighten and her whole body become stiff. "I don't think we're ready yet... I don't think we should force it."

Orihime didn't know what to say… what could she say? He wasn't ready yet and she shouldn't force it.

Ichigo stood and wrapped his arms around her, including the wrought iron chair and her crossed arms. "…It should be natural…" He bent his neck and kissed her forehead. "When it happens, it happens."

Orihime craned her neck to look up at him. She didn't smile, nor did she frown. "Yes." She said. "Anything can happen."

This chapter was a little rushed. I was busy all week planning a relatives' baby shower which I have to go to next week. Sorry for any grammatical mistakes.

Next week is a very big chapter for every character. This chapter was more of a peek at Hitomi's behavior and a update on this Ichihime relationship. I hope I didn't make Hitomi too much of a brat.

'til next week!

Rocka.

P.S. I hope I won't get banned! The caught-in-the-act scenes were a little more explicit then I thought!