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It was quiet for a long moment as her mother finally died, and as soon as Orihime had stepped back, Ichigo appeared by her side. His arms wrapping around her in a hug. Nothing was said for a long moment, as the hugged each other. When Ichigo started to let go, Orihime's hands had gone to stop him.

"No. Just hold me a little bit longer." Orihime said, feeling the warmth return as Ichigo's arms wrapped back around her, and she rested her head on her chest. Her heart racing, and her mind soaring. For the first time in a long time, she felt truly safe.

Urahara's, 7 in the morning

It was quiet as everyone had gathered around Urahara's table. They've only been back in Karakura Town for two hours, as they had to go to Rosehaven first to get the cars. Now everyone was finishing up getting their injuries tended to. Orihime was currently getting patched up on her cheek by Retsu Unohana. It had been rather quiet between them, and Orihime had felt the eyes of the others start to collect on her. But there were only two individuals she was focusing on. The second Retsu stepped away from her face, she turned towards them and glared. "What in the hell were you two thinking?"

Everyone's eyes switched over to Karin and Kimi, who were looking to Orihime with wide eyes.

"It was incredibly reckless to show up there," Orihime continued, her eyes narrowing. "I cannot believe how you two completely overlooked how dangerous showing up there was."

"It wasn't that big of a deal." Kimi said, shrugging her shoulders.

Karin nodded in agreement, as she crossed her arms. "Everyone else was there-"

"I don't give a damn about what everyone else was doing!" Orihime snapped interrupting her, as her glare intensified. "You two are out of your freaking minds showing up there. You knew better."

"Orihime-"

"Karin," Orihime interrupted again. "You especially knew better. You know what happened the last time we were in Hueco Mundo. People died and got so badly injured that they almost died." She scowled and looked to Kimi. "You were supposed to tell Karin that she was out of her mind, and to stay put here in Karakura Town."

Kimi raised an eyebrow and motioned to herself. "Why is it my job to be the responsible one?"

"And why am I all of a sudden the irresponsible one?" Karin added, motioning to Kimi. "She's irresponsible too."

"And Karin is mostly responsible."

Karin's eyes swept to Kimi, as she raised an eyebrow at her words. "What does that mean?"

"What exactly do you mean by irresponsible?" Kimi countered, shaking her head and crossing her arms. "I'm more responsible than you."

"You are not-"

"Oh my god." Toshiro interrupted Karin, slapping a hand to his face.

Ichigo had to hold back laughter, as he motioned to the two. "You two need to get the bigger picture here."

"And that is that neither of you two should have been there today." Orihime added, lessening her glare, as both girls had sighed and nodded.

The doors to Urahara's opened, and in came Isshin. His eyes going straight to Karin and Kimi. "Seriously? I look away for five minutes, and you completely disappeared from the house. Then later I find out that you and Kimi decided it would be a good idea to portal to Hueco Mundo! You two are in a heap of trouble. Kimi we will be taking you home, your parents are pretty angry."

Karin sighed and she waved it off. "Dad, we already got the whole lecture from Orihime. We get it. We won't do it again."

"Probably." Kimi added, noting that received some chuckles from the others, and Toshiro raising an eyebrow.

Orihime stood up and approached Isshin. "I'm sorry that this got so out of hand, and that Karin and Kimi showed up-"

Isshin stepped forward and hugged Orihime, interrupting her words. "Don't apologize. I'm just glad you're okay."

A little bark was heard, before the door opened again and in came Yuzu. Propping Mina on one hip, her other hand was busy trying to hold onto Bingo's leash, as he had wanted to run right over to Ichigo who was on his level since he was sitting down. "Oh, sorry Ichigo."

"It's okay." Ichigo said, having had to dodge Bingo's tongue, and settled for petting him before he stood up.

Orihime accepted Mina from Yuzu, and she turned to Ichigo who had his eyes on Mina too. They both shared a look and smiled at one another, just as Urahara finally entered the room from the back.

It was quiet as everyone's eyes went to Urahara, and he cleared his throat as he sat down at his usual spot at the table. "We got reports back from our teams combing through the remains of Las Noches… It was confirmed that Aizen's body was found. They also retrieved the body of Kurahime… Both confirmed dead, and their bodies are back in the Soul Society."

It was quiet for a long moment, as Orihime's eyes traveled down to Mina. Her beautiful baby girl looked up to her with her bright eyes, and smiled past her pacifier. Without realizing it at first, tears gathered in Orihime's eyes, and she finally allowed herself to cry. She brought a hand to her face, as she felt Ichigo's arms wrap around her.

"Orihime."

Ichigo's voice got Orihime to look up at him, and she just smiled through her tears. "It's over. It's finally over."

Orihime and Ichigo's house

Walking inside, Orihime had to quickly side step to avoid Bingo, who had bolted past her. Barking as he reached one of his favorite toys that was stuck under one of the couches. Smiling big, she set her bag down, and jogged over to get the toy out for him. The second he had it in his mouth, he had jumped up excitedly. His tail wagging a million miles per hour. "Are you so excited to have your toy Bingo? You've been away from it for so long?"

Bingo barked as he ran around the living room to try to keep his toy, as Orihime went after him. Ichigo smirked as he had come upstairs from the garage after Orihime did. Holding Mina in one arm, as she was still a little drowsy from having been sleeping the past hour. It brings me so much happiness knowing that Orihime is so happy. It feels like this tense air has been lifted now that we know Aizen and Kurahime are no longer lurking around.

"Okay, drop the toy," Orihime said, as she and Bingo were now at the back door. Bingo whined a little. "Bingo that is an indoor toy, not an outdoor one. Drop it."

Bingo hesitated, but finally dropped the toy. He took off outside as soon as Orihime opened the back door. She moved over to the couch that was against the windows that faced the back yard, and she looked out the window to watch Bingo running around. "He's having the time of his life, and acting like he just wasn't on a vacation to your dad's house for the past twenty-four hours."

"Well," Ichigo started, setting Mina down on her play mat on the floor, as he moved over to stand next to Orihime. His eyes watching out the window as well. "I think he just knows it's a special day."

"That it is," Orihime agreed, smiling as they kissed each other. They looked back to watch Bingo through the window. "Honestly, I don't know if I could be happier than I am on this day. Well, obviously when Mina was born. Then when you proposed to me. And when we moved into this house."

Ichigo laughed at how her words were getting away from her. "Don't worry, I know what you meant. This day certainly ranks high up on one of the best days of my life too."

"Bingo's coming back up here, I think," Orihime said, turning to go to the back door, but she froze as she rested a hand on Ichigo's arm. "Ichigo."

Ichigo turned to see Mina was standing up and she was taking a shaky step in their direction. "Oh my god."

Kneeling down with Ichigo, Orihime felt her heart explode with happiness, as Mina took the rest of the steps to reach them. The last foot of space, she stumbled over into Orihime's arms, but that was good enough for her mother. "I can't believe it, she's really walking, Ichigo. She's walking."

Ichigo grinned as he had a hand resting on Mina's back, and he kissed Orihime. "This day really is one of the best days we've ever had now."

"I know," Orihime agreed, smiling as she moved Mina up in her arms a little. Bingo having trotted over from outside, his favorite toy back in his mouth. He dropped it briefly to give Mina a friendly lick, before he got back his toy and settled on part of Mina's play mat. When Mina wiggled out of her arms to go over to Bingo, Orihime was thrilled at Mina's attempt to walk over there instead of crawl. "I'm so proud of her."

Ichigo, who had gone to shut the back door, returned back and wrapped an arm around Orihime's shoulders, as they watched Mina go over to play with her toys next to Bingo. My family… Our family. This feels so good.

The next morning, April 9th

Putting Mina back in her crib after her bottle, Orihime hovered for a moment. A hand reaching into the crib to gently reassure that Mina remained asleep. After a moment, she pulled back and tip-toed out of the room. Smiling at where Bingo was laying out in the hallway, his limbs spread out, as he was clearly tired. "Come on Bingo."

Orihime's words raised the golden retriever up, as he trotted to keep up with to go down the stairs.

Once downstairs, Orihime went through the routine of letting Bingo out for the first time, and making coffee. She picked up some of Mina and Bingo's toys, and cleaned the kitchen well. Soon enough she was out on the back porch on one of the chairs, her legs curled up under a throw blanket, and a hot cup of coffee in her hands. Surveying their land, there was light fog out, and she could just barely see the forest behind their house. It's so peaceful out here. I think this is the first time in a long time that I've been able to step out of this house, and not have some fear or worry in the back of my mind. She took in a deep breath of air, and smiled at the sounds of birds chirping as they started to wake up.

Bingo trotting up the steps to return from the backyard was heard, then he moved over to sit by her feet. A toy keeping him very much entertained.

With the occasional feeling of Bingo's nose nudging her foot to make sure she was still there, Orihime sighed and rested her head back on the chair. I could get used to this feeling.

An hour later

As Mina had woke up again, Ichigo had been the one to get her, and after feeding her breakfast to her, he joined Orihime out on the porch for their own breakfast. They had begun to discuss the wedding planning Orihime had missed out on, and Mina was now snuggled up against Orihime attempting to fall back to sleep.

"I think the biggest thing that we are supposed to be focusing on is getting my tux and your wedding dress," Ichigo said, having picked up the notebook full of notes he got from the wedding planner over the last few planning sessions. "It's not like we have to have them right now or anything, but we at least need to start the process of looking for what we want."

"I honestly don't have a clue on what kind of dress I want," Orihime said, sighing at the thought. "I'll just have to ask the girls to come with me, and help out."

Ichigo nodded. "Well, as I said, it doesn't have to be right now. We just need to be starting the process soon, as it could take weeks or even months to find the right style. It could take even longer to get anything hemmed if need be."

"More importantly than that. We have our baby girl's first birthday party to plan," Orihime replied, as she looking down at the tired baby in her arms. "It's almost a month away after all. I actually was texting with your sister—Karin—about it last night, and she had some really cute ideas."

"No matter what we decided on, Tatsuki has to be included in the planning," Ichigo smirked at Orihime's raised eyebrow. "She told me that she'll be incredibly upset and offended if she doesn't have a hand in planning her goddaughter's 1st birthday."

Orihime chuckled at the thought. "Okay, I'll make sure I include them in on a group text, and we'll figure it out from there."

"I think we should ask Yuzu if she would mind making a cake for Mina too. Her cakes are always amazing," Ichigo added, then he chuckled. "Of course, it all depends on what kind of mood she's in when I ask. You can never tell with her these days."

"She's fifteen—almost sixteen—Ichigo. She's bound to have some mood changes here and there," Orihime pointed out, but she added Yuzu onto the group text anyways. "I think with the three of them adding their inputs, this will turn out to be a great party."

Ichigo shrugged. "Honestly, the party is more for us adults than Mina anyways though."

"I know that, but I still want it to be a great day for Mina." Orihime replied, as their eyes traveled down to where Mina had finally fallen asleep on Orihime's chest. Big smiles on both of their faces.

Dinner that evening

"Damn, talk about meeting the parents." Karin commented after Orihime had finished speaking.

"Karin." Toshiro murmured, trying to keep the smirk from growing on his face.

"It's alright," Orihime laughed, waving it off. They were seated in a booth at an Italian restaurant called "The Cottage", and she and Ichigo were on a double date with Karin and Toshiro. She grabbed her glass of wine and took a sip. "That was probably the most extreme way to meet the parents actually. Kurahime—my mother—spent some time explaining to me how she and Aizen came to be, and why it was that they were interested in me and Mina. It gave me a lot of answers I have been wondering about for years."

Ichigo shrugged at that, his eyes going to where Mina was currently snacking on some blueberries in her high chair. "I mean I honestly didn't think I left that much of an impression on Aizen for him to care."

"Well you obviously did. It was made very clear that it made Mina more valuable to them, because she was yours and mine," Orihime said, a shiver going down her spine at the word valuable. Trying to switch the subject away from Mina, her eyes moved to Karin. "Apparently, even you popped up on their radar."

Karin raised an eyebrow. "Me?"

When Orihime nodded, Toshiro began to notice a strange look in her eye. "I can imagine they were looking into all of Ichigo's family and your friends."

"Well they obviously had interest in everyone, but there was an emphasis on Karin," Orihime explained, noticing that had even Ichigo looking at her with raised eyebrows. "They were interested in the fact that you had powers, and it was strange that they brought up you specifically out of all of our friends and family who also has powers."

Karin broke the silence by laughing, then she smirked. "I just feel so special for being included." That broke the silence between them, as they all laughed. When the laughter died down, Karin changed the subject back to Orihime. "I just can't believe Aizen is your father. The apple certainly fell far away from the tree."

"I know," Orihime said, a short laugh followed. "Honestly, it is kind of funny that everything that's happened in the past few years is because of my family drama."

Both Orihime and Karin started laughing at that, and Ichigo and Toshiro shared a look that didn't find humor in it. Toshiro speaking on that, as he said, "I don't think that's funny."

"Obviously." Karin agreed, but she and Orihime continued laughing.

When their laughter died, Orihime sighed as she looked to Mina. "I think someone needs a diaper change."

"I'll do it." Karin offered, as she stood up and picked Mina up, along with her diaper bag.

After Karin walked towards the bathroom with Mina, Ichigo stood up as well. "I am actually going to get Mina's blanket out of the car. She looks like she is going to fall asleep soon."

Once Ichigo had left the table, Toshiro noticed a deep frown setting on Orihime's face, as she had been focusing down on her plate of half-eaten pasta. Her fork twirling in it aimlessly. "What's on your mind?"

"I know I was just trying to change the subject from Mina, but I wasn't lying about how Aizen and Kurahime brought up Karin." Orihime replied, her eyes finally meeting Toshiro's.

Noticing a sort of seriousness in her eyes, Toshiro raised an eyebrow. "What did they say?"

Taking a moment to recall the memory more clearly, Orihime took a deep breath and released. "It was more or less Kurahime saying these things, but she was talking about how special Karin was."

"I know… You already said that-"

"No, Toshiro she emphasized how special Karin was," Orihime interrupted him, pausing to wait for a waitress to walk past, before continuing. "Kurahime made a comment that if Mina and I ended up not working out for them, they could easily have Karin as a replacement."

That seemed to hit a note with Toshiro, as his frown matched the growing one on Orihime's face. "That is strange… Did they say anything else?"

Orihime shook her head, and noticed out of the corner of her eye that Ichigo had re-entered the restaurant. "Obviously it doesn't matter anymore because Aizen and Kurahime are both dead. I just needed to put it out there, because I thought it was strange that they'd be so interested in her… Anyway, I don't think we should bring those specifics up to Ichigo or Karin, I just wanted to let you know."

As Ichigo returned to the table, Toshiro nodded briefly to Orihime, then focused down on taking another bite of food.

"Did you bring all of her stuff in here Ichigo?" Orihime asked at the things Ichigo was holding.

Ichigo laughed, as he settled the stuff on the bench between him and Orihime. "Honestly, I didn't know what she'd want, so I figured it'd be better to be prepared."

"Okay," Karin's voice was heard, as she returned with Mina. "She's getting a little fussy, so she probably is tired-"

"That's what I said," Ichigo said, as he reached to accept Mina from Karin. He settled her against his chest, and wrapped her blanket around her and offered her a stuffed animal of hers he brought in for her. He glanced down at his food. "I guess I'll just get the rest of this to go."

"I don't mind holding her." Orihime offered, as she motioned to her pasta. "I probably won't be able to eat all of this right now anyway."

"No, it's alright, I don't mind," Ichigo said, as his eyes moved from Mina to across the table at Karin and Toshiro. "Well I was going to suggest we go out and do something after dinner, but with Mina already falling asleep, I don't think that's going to happen."

Orihime nodded, as she smiled at their baby girl's sleepy face. "Yeah, our evenings usually are spent with us just in our pajamas by seven p.m., and watching TV or movies."

That noticeably brought smiles to both Karin and Toshiro's face, as they shared a look with each other. Karin laughing after a moment. "But like same though."

Toshiro chuckled at the raised eyebrows from Orihime and Ichigo. "That's usually what happens with us too."

"Except we don't have a baby as an excuse," Karin further explained, laughing again. "We're just not that exciting on purpose apparently."

That brought them all to laughing, and when their laughter settled, Ichigo shrugged. "Maybe we can go back to mine and Orihime's house to watch a movie then?"

After sharing a look with Karin, Toshiro nodded. "Sure, that sounds good to us."

"Well, I can't drive." Orihime said, grabbing her wine glass, and drinking down the rest.

Ichigo chuckled at her finishing her wine. "Okay then."

"Oh," Orihime said, as she picked up her phone. "I should text Yuzu. I think she's about to get off work, and maybe she and Taro would like to join us."

"I mean you can ask, but I don't think they'll want to. They lead much more exciting lives," Karin said, chuckling at that. "They have plans to go to a party tonight."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "I definitely heard her tell dad that she was going to bed early- and now that I am saying that, I realize that she was lying."

"Obviously." Karin shot back.

Orihime shook her head, as she set her phone back down. "I just can't see Yuzu sneaking out of the house to go to a party."

"I know," Ichigo agreed, adjusting Mina a bit, then he glanced to Karin. "I'm pretty sure we all thought that was going to be you."

Karin shrugged, twisting her fork to get a little bit more pasta on it. "I just don't find the whole surrounded by drunk strangers atmosphere enjoyable."

Toshiro laughed, a smirk settling onto his face. "You don't like to be surrounded by anyone. Strangers or friends. Sober or not."

"You're not wrong." Karin said, grinning at Toshiro's words.

Meanwhile, Orihime held a slight look of concern in her eyes, as she looked to her phone. "I hope Yuzu will be okay."

"Don't worry," Karin reassured. "She's done this plenty of times- not that you heard that from me or anything."

"Wait you've known she's been doing this?" Ichigo asked.

"Yeah," Karin replied, a smirk settling back on her face. "Doesn't it feel good to be on the inside for once? You can't go telling dad now though."

"Why the hell not?"

Karin scowled and pointed her fork at Ichigo. "You know Ichigo, Yuzu and I don't ever tell you anything, because of that exact reason. Don't make me regret giving you this knowledge."

That brought laughter from Orihime and Toshiro, Ichigo rolled his eyes, and looked around for the waitress. "We need get the check, so we can leave."

Later that night

Opening the dresser drawer, Orihime picked out a onesie for Mina to sleep in, as she balanced holding Mina in her other arm. "Mina you are very wiggly tonight," she told her, laughing at how she had to readjust again to keep Mina from wiggling out of her arms. "I hope this is not you trying to tell me that you're not going to be going to sleep tonight."

Mina giggled back at Orihime, as the water was heard turning off from the other room. "Orihime!"

Ichigo's voice had Orihime resting Mina's outfit for the night on the changing table, before she left with Mina to go to the bathroom. Once in there, she had to step over Bingo who was busy working on one of his toys on the rug in the bathroom. "Okay Mina, it's bath time."

Ichigo watched as Orihime undressed Mina. "She's got a lot of energy."

"I know. I'm kind of getting the feeling she might not go to sleep so easily tonight," Orihime said, as she finished undressing Mina, but she hesitated at the sight of the bathtub. It was the first time they were letting Mina take a bath without the help of the assistance of the baby bather they had been using. "Are we sure the water isn't too high for her?"

Ichigo glanced at the bathtub, then back at Orihime. "It's only a few inches high. It's the right temperature. I don't think we have anything to worry about… We'll be here the entire time. I know it's new, but everything will be fine. If she doesn't like it, then we can just put the bather back in here, and try again tomorrow night."

Taking in a deep breath, Orihime knelt down, and gently put Mina so she was sitting in the bath water. Keeping her hand resting on her back, she watched intently for Mina' reaction to having much more room than she was used to while taking a bath. It took a moment of Mina exploring the fact that she had so much freedom, before she finally giggled as she played with the water. Visibly relaxing, Orihime smiled at how Mina seemed to like this. "Okay, this is going a lot smoother than I anticipated."

"I would have to agree with you on that one," Ichigo said, focusing on Mina as she played with her bath toys a little, then he glanced to Orihime, who had slowly started the process of getting Mina's upper half wet so they could start to actually bathe her. "Tonight ended up being a pretty fun night."

"I know, I was glad we finally got around to watching that movie," Orihime agreed, a smile returning to her face, as she grabbed the baby soap. "It was nice that we got to spend some time with Toshiro and Karin too."

Ichigo chuckled. "I never thought I would be voluntarily going on a double date with my sister and her boyfriend."

"That doesn't seem as unbelievable to me," Orihime said, laughing as well. "What's unbelievable is that her boyfriend is Toshiro, and you went on a double date with them both."

"Don't ever tell anyone I said this, but he's not that bad of a guy. I am pretty sure that's only because he is dating my sister, but still. He's not that bad," Ichigo said, his eyes meeting Orihime's. "Don't tell anyone I said that."

Orihime made a cross-motion over her chest. "I won't tell. Cross my heart."

Laughing at her over-dramatic tone, Ichigo was interrupted by Bingo all of a sudden jumping up with his front paws reaching over the edge of the bathtub. "Bingo!"

Mina's attention went to the golden retriever, and she touched one of his paws. "Bingo."

"Yes Bingo," Orihime said, as Ichigo had to push lightly back on Bingo's chest to get Bingo to put his paws back on the rug. She smiled at the golden retriever. "This bath is not for you."

"Although he certainly could use one," Ichigo said, grabbing Bingo's toy to throw it out in the hall, and keep Bingo distracted for a moment. He smirked at how that had got the golden retriever to run out into the hall. His eyes focused in on Orihime. "Maybe we could get a bath of our own."

Orihime smiled, as she started to rinse the soap off of Mina. "That would be nice as long as we could get this one to go to sleep."

"I've got a plan," Ichigo said, filling up a water pail to help in getting some of the soap off of Mina. "After this, we are going to go downstairs and let Bingo run around the backyard for a bit, then we are going to let Mina run around the living room for a little bit. Then we are going to hopefully see that they both get tired, and go to sleep with no problems. Then you and I are going to open up that bottle of wine, and have a nice bath."

"That sounds wonderful." Orihime said, pausing in reaching for the baby shampoo, so she and Ichigo could kiss. A loud splash sound was heard, getting both their attention, and they found Bingo had returned to the bathtub and the front half of his body was currently in the tub next to Mina, who was giggling away at the golden retriever.

"Bingo!" Ichigo exclaimed, but both he and Orihime both laughed. The clueless golden retriever, just remained where he was, as his tail wagged furiously. "I know we talked about you getting a bath, but you need to wait your turn."

Orihime laughed as Ichigo worked on getting Bingo's upper half back out of the bathtub, and she just looked to Mina who was all giggles. I love our little family.

A/N: It's finally over Aizen and Kurahime(Orihime's mother) are officially dead, and they are finally free to live their lives. I think my favorite scenes this chapter was the last scene and Mina's walking for the first time scene. What was your favorite?

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