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Orihime smiled, and moved to kiss Ichigo's cheek. "I couldn't do this without you Ichigo, you are my safe haven."


The next afternoon, at the new house

Eyeing her and Ichigo's new bedroom made a smile edge onto Orihime's face. With everything settled like it was, it seemed so welcoming to her. Leaving the room after spending another moment looking at what would be her bedroom very soon, she walked a few more feet down the hall, and stopped in the doorway of Mina's nursery. Her smile widened as it was the last of the rooms in the house not to have a majority of it's furniture. It was still just Mina's crib and her dream catcher in the main room. A few miscellaneous things they had got for her, were in her closet at the moment.

We haven't really had a chance to move any of her stuff over from Ichigo's dad's house. We've been pretty occupied these past couples weeks. I guess Ichigo and I will have to get on with moving her stuff over here.

"Hey," Ichigo's voice came from the direction of the top of the stairs. He had paused there, and was watching Orihime as she looked into Mina's nursery. Finishing the rest of the distance from the stairs to stand alongside Orihime in the doorway of Mina's room, his eyes met Orihime's. "I was wondering where you were."

"I've been walking around up here. Looking at everything," Orihime replied, her smile widening more on her face. "Apart from Mina's nursery, everything is where it's supposed to be. All that's left is the small stuff now."

That brought a smile to Ichigo's face. He wrapped his arm around Orihime's waist, and kissed the top of her head. "It's hard to believe that our house is almost complete."

Orihime sighed as she looked back into the nursery. "I can't wait to actually move in. Every time we are here, I get so happy just thinking about what's to come. This is going to be our home. This is going to be where we are going to raise Mina."

"I feel the same way," Ichigo agreed, reaching his hand up to push her hair back out of her face, he got her to look at him again. "I'm so happy that we can focus on that now. Without having to worry or stress like we have been."

That softened the smile on Orihime's face. She let her eyes fall down to her baby bump, and her hands rested where she felt Mina kicking. "I couldn't agree more."

A half hour later

They were downstairs with Ichigo's family and their friends. They were all kind of hanging out, and waiting for pizza to be delivered for dinner. So when a knock on the door was heard shortly after they ordered, they weren't quite sure who it was, as it clearly couldn't have been the pizza already.

"Orihime," Ichigo said, walking back from the front door, his eyes meeting Orihime's.

Orihime opened her eyes to see Rin walking into the living room behind Ichigo. Smiling, she pushed herself up to standing from the couch. "You're coming to say goodbye aren't you?"

Rin smiled softly back to Orihime, and nodded once. "Yeah, a few days gone from home has me missing it," she replied, her eyes sweeping to the others, and then back to Orihime. "Will you step out on the back porch with me? I have something I need to talk to you about."

"Of course," Orihime nodded, starting in an almost waddle-like walk to walk to the back door. Once she closed the door behind herself and Rin, her eyes flickered curiously to her friend. "So?"

"I want to tell you that you need to take it easy these next couple weeks. Yes, the stress should be over after yesterday. But, because you are you, you always find something to stress about," Rin started, smiling at Orihime's laugh. "You need to be keeping an eye on those braxton hicks contractions because before you know it they could turn into real contractions. And you need to be keeping an eye on Mina's movements as well. She needs to be active until the end. If you get nervous about anything, you give me a call. I'm actually not that far away from your house here."

Rin's slightly parental tone had Orihime laughing, and it was something she found herself missing. "I'll be okay, but I will probably give you a call anyways."

"Good, because if you don't call me, I'm going to call you," Rin replied, taking in a deep breath, as she started reaching into her bag. "I don't want you to get mad, but there is something's I haven't told you. Not because I don't trust you, but it was for safety matters."

"What is it?" Orihime asked, watching Rin, as she took what appeared to be a picture out of her bag. When Rin handed it over, Orihime raised an eyebrow as she turned the picture over. It was of a young girl. She had long brown curled hair, and darker grey eyes. "Who's this?"

"That is your niece," Rin replied slowly, her eyes watching Orihime's.

Not at all what she had expected, Orihime's eyes widened. "What?"

"Her name is Raya," Rin explained, a smile growing back onto her face. "She's almost four years old, and she takes after me mostly in the face, but she's got your brothers eyes, and it appears like she's got his nose too."

"I have a niece…" Orihime trailed off, her eyes going back to the picture of the young girl.

Reaching forward, Rin rested a hand on Orihime's shoulder. "I would have told you sooner. But, I was wanting to keep her out of all of this. She's currently staying with my mom and dad. I don't want you to be mad-"

"No, I understand," Orihime interrupted, still studying the picture. "You wanted to keep her safe."

"I know because she's technically related to you, as she is Sora's blood, that you had a right to know," Rin continued on, and sighed at the thought of Sora. "I just had a hard time after Sora died, and finding out I was pregnant soon after, was a lot for me to take on. By the time I was ready to say something to you, Aizen came into the picture."

Nodding slowly, Orihime finally grew a big smile on her face, and looked up from the picture. "She's beautiful."

"Thank you. She knows all about you. I've told her as much as I could about your brother and you. She wants to meet you so bad, and I told her that she would soon," Rin said, laughing at the thought of her daughter. "She's actually quite like you in a way."

"I'd love to meet her sometime," Orihime said, her eyes lighting up with happiness.

Then they hugged, for a long time. "Keep the picture," Rin said during the hug. "I have plenty of her all over the place."

Orihime laughed at that. "I'm going to frame it, you know?"

Rin laughed along with Orihime. "I expected that… I'll come and visit more, and you should come visit me. I'm going to be mentoring Akira now. So you can bring Akira with you. That way, while I mentor Akira, you can spend time with Raya."

"That sounds like a plan," Orihime agreed, her eyes slipping downwards to settle on the mark Rin had on her shoulder blade. "What's this mark supposed to be of? I never asked Akira."

Pulling back from the hug, Rin slid her hand over her shoulder to rest over the mark. "The black circle resembles the earth, the gold circle resembles the sun, and the white circle resembles the moon. The sun and moon appear to circle the earth as we represent the sun and moon. Protecting the earth from what it can and cannot see. What differs us from Shinigami is our goal is to soothe the humans we save during hollow attacks on the human life. Like shinigami we also help souls pass on. Unlike shinigami we can be seen by humans and we can be invisible."

Taking that information in, Orihime nodded slowly. "What do you call yourselves?"

Rin smiled at that question, and shrugged her shoulders. "It's been more complicated than just telling you our name. But, we can have this conversation some other time. When we'll have a while to sit down and talk about it."

"Of course…" Orihime trailed off, smiling back at Rin. "I hope you are safe going home."

"I will be," Rin replied, adjusting the straps of her bag. "I'll tell Raya that she'll get to meet you soon."

"Good," Orihime replied, smiling as she watched Rin leave to go back through the house. She waited for a moment, her eyes going down to the picture of her niece. Finally she walked inside, still staring at the picture, a warm smile still on her face.

"What are you looking at?" Karin asked Orihime, seeing the picture in Orihime's hands.

"Who's that?" Ichigo added.

"It's a picture… of my niece," Orihime replied slowly. Without much warning, she burst into happy tears, and smiled as she looked to the picture again. "Sora's daughter."

The next day, Monday

"This can't be right."

Hearing Dr. Ayame say that, Orihime's eyes flickered upward from the floor to look at her doctor. "What?"

"May I do the other arm?" Dr. Ayame asked instead of replying.

Orihime nodded, and watched her do the other arm. Briefly sharing a look with Ichigo, who's eyebrow was raised.

"Well," Dr. Ayame started, smiling as she took the cuff off of Orihime's arm. "Your blood pressure is at normal levels today. Which is odd after these past few weeks, that's why I checked both arms. How did you manage to do that?"

Orihime and Ichigo shared looks with each other, and Ichigo was the one who answered. "We finally got rid of what it was that was stressing her out."

"That's good to hear," Dr. Ayame replied, writing down Orihime's blood pressure, then she reached into the cabinet. Pulling out a gown for Orihime, she handed it over. "I'm going to step out for a moment."

A good ten minutes later, Orihime was in the middle of getting her second exam for that appointment. Her eyes were focused up on the ceiling. At this point she was fairly used to how this went, but it still didn't make it anymore comfortable for her.

"Well it appears you aren't showing dilation or effacement, but that's all okay. You still have this week and next week to go," Dr. Ayame said after finishing up, taking off her gloves, and going to throw them away. "Although, with the progress you've made in your blood pressure I say that's the highlight of this appointment."

"I can agree to that," Ichigo said, smiling as he helped Orihime sit up.

"Alright, well before we end this appointment, I just want to go ahead and start preparing for the next couple weeks. I would start looking into what you are going to bring the hospital with you, as well as figure are car seat situation," Dr. Ayame suggested, finishing up writing on Orihime's chart, then she crossed her arms over the clipboard to hold it against her.

"We have two car seats, because we decided that since we have two cars, it would be easier than transferring the seat to whichever car we take," Orihime pusher her hair back out of her face. Feeling slightly annoyed with how constantly her bangs would fall in her face. "Should we practice with both of them still?"

"I would recommend doing so just to make sure everything is working with both car seats. As well as leaving one in the car you plan on driving to the hospital in. It doesn't have to be in the seats, you can leave it in the trunk of the car, I just recommend having it there," Dr. Ayame grew a smile on her face at that. "Just make sure to get everything you will need for the baby set up and ready for you. As it is possible she might come earlier than her due date, and it is kind of impossible to fully prepare yourself for what is to come with parenthood, but you want to try your best to make it easy for you."

That had Orihime and Ichigo both nodding. Wanting to be as prepared as possible. "Anything else we need to know?" Ichigo asked.

Dr. Ayame nodded, and focused more specifically on Orihime. "Now that you are getting closer, you need to be watchful of your braxton hicks contractions. Make sure that they aren't coming in timed intervals. Also keep note of the baby's movement, as she needs to be as active as ever up until the end."

Orihime nodded, and smiled at Dr. Ayame's words. The same one's she received from Rin yesterday. Bringing thoughts of her niece that she hoped to meet soon. "I'll keep an eye on it," she replied, now completely distracted from the conversation, as she continued her thoughts on her niece.

Ichigo noticed the look in Orihime's eye, and his own eyes went to Dr. Ayame. "She's completely thinking of something else now. She'll probably be too distracted to give anymore questions."

Dr. Ayame chuckled as she had noticed the look of distraction in Orihime's eyes. "Well, if you or her have anymore questions, give me a call, but I'll see you at her next appointment."

"Thanks," Ichigo said, shaking Dr. Ayame's hand, and holding back a laugh as Dr. Ayame chuckled at Orihime's distracted state before she left. Focusing on Orihime, he held out his hand for her. "Time to go change."

"Okay," Orihime mumbled, accepting Ichigo's hand to help her down from the observation table. "I'm think about Raya. I really want to meet her."

"Rin said you will soon, right?" Ichigo asked, noticing Orihime wasn't really listening to him, and laughed as she walked to the small bathroom to change. She's certainly distracted today.

A hour later

Walking down another aisle in the store, Orihime had a list in her hands. Full of small things they needed for the house. Looking at it's length, and how much they had crossed off already. We haven't even got half of what we are going to need, we've already been here over half an hour. That thought had her sighing heavily. "My god, we are going to be in here for hours."

"You know," Ichigo started, a smirk on his face. "We can get you one of those scooter things to ride around on."

That had Orihime laughing and shaking her head. "No, the last time I was on one of those, Tatsuki and I got kicked out of the store."

"More of your adventures with Tatsuki that I'm not allowed to know about?" Ichigo laughed, shaking his head at how she nodded back at him.

"I'm pretty sure you really don't want to know anyways," Orihime replied, turning to go down another aisle, she paused and had to stop to shift her weight from side to side. Hoping to stretch out some of her aching muscles.

Seeing her stopped like she was, Ichigo reached over, and rested his hand on her cart's handle. "Seriously though, I don't really want you pushing the cart around. It's pretty heavy."

"Ichigo, we already tried to do this your way. We put most of the heavy stuff in your cart, and everything that is in mine is fairly light. But we have a lot of stuff to get, and this can't be helped," Orihime replied, before slapping his hand away from her cart handle. "It's not even that heavy anyways. Now will you stop?"

Shaking his head, Ichigo laughed at her slight change in mood. "Fine, but if you need a break-"

"I don't," Orihime interrupted him sharply, continuing forward with the cart.

"I know, but if you do, let me know," Ichigo finished what he was saying as he moved to follow after her with the other cart. "How much more do we need to get?"

"A lot more," Orihime replied, getting a braxton hicks contraction, and having to stop once again. Trying to breathe a bit at the slight pain.

"Orihime?"

"This is not fun at all," Orihime groaned, one hand resting on her baby bump. "I'm going to die."

"With how much you say that, it really is starting to concern me," Ichigo told her, laughing at her rolling her eyes.

At the new house, a little over two hours later

Karin, Yuzu, and Isshin met Orihime and Ichigo at their new house to help unload the stuff they had bought. As well as help put it away. Orihime was pretty much told to remain on the couch, and was only able to tell the others where she wanted stuff. After finishing a lot of the work, they had just taken a break, when there was a sound of a knock on the door.

"Who would that be?" Ichigo asked, starting to get up from where he was sitting beside Orihime.

"Mai and Hikari," Orihime replied, not looking up from where she was currently putting a picture in one of the frames she and Ichigo bought today. "Hikari is finally out of school for the spring semester, and I invited them over to celebrate that."

Opening the door to see Hikari, Mai, and Emi, Ichigo smiled. "Hey, what's up?"

"Nothing much man," Hikari said, shaking Ichigo's hand, the other arm holding Emi up.

"Heard you got out of school for the Summer," Ichigo said, letting them in.

Hikari set Emi down, as she had been wiggling around his arms wanting to be put down, and then he started talking to Ichigo about getting out of school.

Mai walked with Emi to the living room. Her eyes glued to her daughter who picked up in her still slightly clumsy run. "Emi be careful-"

"Orihime!" Emi exclaimed, clearly not listening to her mom. She held a big smile on her face.

That had Orihime smiling as the two year old had barreled her way over to Orihime, and she hugged the small toddler. "Hey sweet girl. You got my name right this time."

"Yep, she's been getting better everyday," Mai said, smiling as her eyes went to Isshin and the girls. "So you three managed to be recruited to helping them move all the small stuff, huh?"

Isshin laughed, and nodded. "Yeah, it wasn't too bad."

"I mean apart from all the heavy lifting," Karin added, as she stretched her arms up above her head. "I don't like doing that much work to be honest."

"We know," Yuzu said, making the others laugh.

Ichigo and Hikari come closer, Ichigo spoke up. "I think we should order pizza."

"Sounds good to me," Orihime agreed almost immediately. The thought of pizza was already so wonderful. I haven't ate anything since before my doctor's appointment a few hours ago. I'm dying.

A little over a half hour later

Sitting down at the dining room table, they had been using paper plates and cups, as Orihime and Ichigo decided not use any real plates or cups yet. Just to keep from having to run the dishwasher now. Emi had just got off her mom's lap, and proceeded to grab napkins from the edge of the table. Leading to them falling all over the floor. Which she was currently picking them up after Mai's direction to do so. "Yeah, she's been getting into everything. We've been having to keep things off of the edges of tables and counters, because she's starting to reach higher up now."

Orihime had been trying to keep from laughing, as she knew Mai was trying to keep it serious for Emi to get the message to clean up. "She's adorable even when she's getting into stuff."

"Yeah, well no matter how adorable, it's not really easy now, as we are having to start teaching her punishment," Mai replied, her eyes on Emi, who was sitting on the floor and picking up the napkins as that is what Mai told her to do. "Emi, keep picking them up."

Emi laughed as she did. Hikari leaned over, and shuffled some of the napkins closer to his daughter.

Seeing him do that, Mai reached over and smacked Hikari lightly on the shoulder. "Stop helping her. She's not going to learn if you aren't going to let her do it by herself."

Hikari smirked, as he looked back at Mai. "Babe, you've got to understand, Emi and I have this special connection. I can't just say no to her sometimes."

"Sometimes? You can never say no to her," Mai replied, a hand propped on her hip. "She's got you wrapped around her finger."

"I'm not complaining about that," Hikari replied, seeing that Emi finished picking up the napkins, he scooped her up to sit on his lap.

Mai just sighed as she couldn't help but smile at Hikari. "Oh just you wait. When she's sixteen and interested in boys, you just remember that you can't say no to her."

"I've planned for that," Hikari replied, a smile on his face. "And she's not going to date any boys until she's thirty."

That had the others laughing.

"Anyway," Mai said, her eyes going to Orihime and Ichigo. "Back to what we were talking about. Hikari and I would love to go out dinner with you two soon. As once Mina get's here, you two are probably going to be too busy."

Ichigo's eyes met Orihime's. "That sounds like it would be fun to do, don't you think?"

Orihime nodded back at him, and looked to Mai and Hikari. "It would be. What are you going to do with Emi? Didn't you say your favorite baby sitter was out of town?"

"Yeah she is," Mai sighed, her eyes on Hikari. "So I guess we'll just look at the list of our backups-"

"I'll do it," Karin volunteered, interrupting Mai. "You can even pay me half as much as you pay your regular babysitters. I need the money."

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea," Hikari said, his eyes on Mai.

"I don't see why not. It'll give you a chance to see what you are looking forward to with your niece," Mai agreed, nodding at Karin.

"Cool," Karin said, a smile on her face.

"Be careful though," Ichigo started in warning, a smirk on his face. "By the time we get back from dinner, Karin could have turned her into a mini soccer fanatic."

That had them all laughing, and Karin just smirked. Isshin had his eyes focusing in on his daughter. "I see you are actually trying to earn some money for this trip you want to go on."

"Dad, it's not like it's a vacation. It's a musical program. It's not a trip, it's an educational experience. And I told you I would work hard," Karin replied back almost immediately. "I've been coaching the soccer team at the recreation center, and I'm still putting in more hours to work at the library. Plus I've already started applying to a bunch of scholarships."

"That's good to hear. You keep up the good work," Isshin replied back to his daughter, a smile on his face. Thinking of how she was actually being responsible with this.

Two days later, Wednesday, 4th of May

While Orihime's next doctor's appointment was originally supposed to be on Friday, they ended up coming today instead. Dr. Ayame had to schedule an inducement in the time of Orihime's original appointment. So they had changed to the only available time which happened to be today during seventh period. So Orihime and Ichigo left school early to come to the appointment.

"Good news," Dr. Ayame said, as she finished up her exam on Orihime. Slipping off her gloves, and moving to throw them away. "You are starting to dilate. It's not much, but it's clear that you are starting."

That brought a smile on Orihime's face, as she moved to rest her legs back down on the observation table. Preparing to push herself to sit up more. "Really? I'm starting?"

Dr. Ayame nodded, a smile on her face just by looking at Orihime's smile. "Yes, you are not really effaced yet, but let's be glad for one good thing at a time." She wrote on Orihime's chart for a moment, then looked back to Orihime and Ichigo. "Any questions or concerns?"

Orihime shrugged, but Ichigo did speak up. "Orihime seems to be having a bit harder time now. She's getting more tired than usual, and her body's aching almost everyday now without anything really helping to relieve her. It's just getting hard for her to focus in school."

With Dr. Ayame's eyes questioningly on her to explain further, Orihime sighed and nodded in agreement with Ichigo. "It's just getting harder to get up and go to school everyday. Even when I manage to get there, the question of actually being able to focus that day arises. It's really not that big of a deal though."

"Well, if school's really becoming a cause of stress and exhaustion for you, it might be a good idea to go ahead and talk to your school. Ask them if it would be okay for you to take off some time a little earlier than you originally planned with them," Dr. Ayame suggested, a hand propped on her hip, the other holding Orihime's file. "I'm sure they'd be understanding as long as you can keep up with your school work."

That suggestion had Orihime sighing, and shrugging her shoulders. "I guess I could do that. But, I really want to try and go for as long as I can. I am already going to pretty much miss the last months of school as it is. Taking off more time just doesn't seem like a good idea."

"Well you are still going to have to do the work at home, but I can help you with that. Our friends can help you too," Ichigo told her, smiling as he rested his hand on hers. I know she doesn't want to take off school early. But, at this point, it just seems to be the best option. "It might just be better for you to go ahead and take off school sooner rather than later."

Orihime didn't respond to Ichigo at first, as it was clear she was thinking. Dr. Ayame spoke up after a moment. "How about you give it a try another day or so? If you still are having trouble maybe that's when it'd be a good idea to go ahead and take off."

"Okay," Orihime agreed finally, as it appeared she really had no choice but to consider the option.

Later that evening

Orihime and Ichigo were both dressed rather nicely as they were about to go out to dinner with Mai and Hikari. Who had just shown up to drop Emi off with Karin. Mai had been setting Emi's bag down by the coffee table, and her eyes were on Karin.

"Now, remember, Emi is in the stage where she says 'no' to practically everything. She wants to do her own thing, and wants to do things for herself," Mai was saying, her arms crossed over her chest. "If she does something she is not supposed to, she's probably going to throw a tantrum if she says no. The best thing to do is just leave her be. Eventually she will calm herself down. If you give her attention she'll keep crying because she likes the attention."

"We also put some of Emi's toys in her bag to help keep her distracted. She's kind of picky when it comes to food now. But, if you can't get her to eat, just give her a little bit of fruit, and she'll eat that right up. Just cut it up in smaller bites for her," Hikari added, having to adjust Emi in his arms, as she was wiggling around. Wanting to be let down.

"I'll keep all that in mind," Karin said with a nod, having been taking mental notes. So basically the bag is my savior if Emi is being resistant.

Hikari finally moved to set Emi down, as she had been becoming more instant in being let down. "Alright princess. You are going to spend the evening with Karin today. You got to be extra special nice, okay?"

"Kay!" Emi replied back to her dad, her eyes going to Karin, who had knelt down in front of her.

Karin smiled at Emi's happy air she seemed to have around her. "Remember me kid?"

Emi's laughter flickered up through the air. "Karin."

"Awesome, so we don't have to work on that part," Karin replied, moving to stand up, and reach out her hand to Emi. "Now, this is supposed to be super top secret and all, so you can't tell anyone. But, we are going to go see the big piano, and make a little music."

Emi laughed, and at the word 'secret' seemed to take it more seriously. Taking Karin's hand, and the two were off towards the study.

"Well, I'm surprised that went well," Ichigo said, having watched his younger sister interacting with Emi.

Isshin nodded, his eyes going to Mai and Hikari. "I'll keep an extra eye out for Emi, but I think Karin's got a handle on this."

"Thank you," Mai said, smiling from how she heard Emi's laughter from the study.

"You two ready to go?" Hikari asked Orihime and Ichigo.

Ichigo nodded, but Orihime sighed and set her purse down. "I'm going to go to the bathroom again before we go. Because it feels like Mina is hugging my bladder right now." That made the others laugh. Orihime moved back towards the stairs to go up to the bathroom. Meeting Yuzu up towards the top. "Emi's here. She's in the study with Karin if you want to go say hi."

"Yes, definitely," Yuzu said, smiling back at Orihime. "Have fun with Ichigo and your friends."

"Thanks," Orihime replied back with a smile, as she moved into the bathroom. Once in there, she sighed as it felt like Mina moved off her bladder. No longer feeling like she had to pee, she propped her hands on her hips, and looked down at her baby bump. "So we are playing this game tonight, huh?"

In the middle of the night

Orihime's eyes opened up, having woke up again. Her eyes shifted over to the clock to find it was just past three in the morning. She had been waking up every other half hour since they laid down around midnight. They had returned back to the house with Hikari and Mai around eleven. They talked with Karin about how it went here with Emi, and it apparently went well. It wasn't until eleven thirty that Hikari and Mai left with Emi. Not even ten minutes after that, Orihime was in her pajamas and in bed. Exhausted.

Unfortunately for me, I still haven't really got any good sleep. Orihime thought, moving to push herself to sitting up. Feeling uncomfortable all over.

Ichigo rolled over from facing the wall, having woke up at her moving around. Seeing her sitting up, and pushing her sleep ruffled hair back from her face. "Hey, what's going on?"

"I'm just really uncomfortable," Orihime replied softly, leaning back against the pillows behind her. She rubbed her baby bump, and sighed heavily.

Trying not to appear as overly worrying, Ichigo moved to prop his head up with one hand, and the other went to rest on her baby bump. "You want to talk?"

"I guess," Orihime replied softly.

"We don't have much left to get for our house," Ichigo started, noticing how surprised Orihime was, as she apparently hadn't expected him to just talk about random stuff. "We just have Mina's stuff to move over, our stuff here in this room, and a few things here and there."

Orihime nodded slowly, enjoying not talking about how she was feeling for once. "We can try to get that done this weekend if we have time." She continued to rub her baby bump. Feeling Mina's quick movements.

"How's Mina?" Ichigo asked, watching Orihime rub her bump.

"Jumping around like usual. She doesn't seem to understand that it's the middle of the night," Orihime replied back, even though she was tired, just talking about Mina made her smile. After a moment, she sighed, and closed her eyes. Thinking of how much of a struggle she had been going through these past nights just to get a decent amount of sleep to function each day. Before she knew it, honest words came from her mouth in a confession. "I don't know how much longer I can put up with this Ichigo."

"I can tell that it's hard on you," Ichigo said, feeling better that she was being fully honest with him. "Being in pain throughout the day, and being uncomfortable all the time."

"It's just these last few weeks are a lot harder than I thought it would be," Orihime admitted, sighing at her admitting to struggling. "I'm considering doing what Dr. Ayame suggested. Taking off school earlier than I planned to."

Ichigo yawned, and then spoke up. "If that's what you want, I support you doing that a hundred percent."

Orihime shook her head at his words. "That's not at all what I want to do, but at this point I don't know if it's going to be worth going to school and being miserable. I won't get any work done that way. I want to change it. So I'll be able to go for as long as I can. But, with how much I'm continuing to lose every night, and with how sore I am everyday, it's just seeming like it won't work out."

"Well maybe it's time to just do something good for yourself," Ichigo said, wanting to support whatever she wanted. Trying not to put too much of his own opinion into his words. If it were up to me, I would just tell Orihime to forget about school, and just focus on herself.

"I'll see how tomorrow goes I guess," Orihime said, keeping her eyes closed, and she yawned. "And if it goes good I will probably hold off on leaving early. But if it's like today was, I'll request to meet with the principle like I am supposed to, and have that meeting on Friday."

"That sounds good to me," Ichigo agreed, and that led them into silence for a few minutes. His eyes remaining focused on Orihime's baby bump. "You do whatever you need to alright Orihime? I want you to be comfortable. It doesn't really matter if you aren't in school, because you'll be able to do all of your school work here. And our friends will come to visit you so you won't get bored." He yawned himself, and paused in silence again for a few more minutes. "I'll even leave early for lunch a few times, and come and eat with you if you want. I'll do it everyday if you want me to."

When there was no response back to his words, Ichigo's eyes left Orihime's bump to look to her face. Finding that she had fell asleep. Her head resting slightly tilted on the pillows behind her, and her breathing steady and calm. The sight of her asleep finally, made Ichigo smile. Moving so he could rest his head back on his own pillow, he closed his eyes. Happy to have managed to help her find her way back to sleeping again. Maybe she'll sleep longer tonight.

Two days later, Friday

After having a not so great day yesterday, Orihime had decided to go ahead and take off school. So going into school this morning, she spent a good two hours in a meeting talking at first with the counselor for the senior's, and then the vice principle and the principle. Just to get some things straightened out with how everything would work with her completing the school year. Most everything would be online. Emailing her teachers her assignments, and setting up a skype system that would help her have more access to talking with her teachers face to face. It was a struggle for her to get through the meeting, and pay attention the whole time with Mina moving around.

After the meeting was over, Orihime had gone to her first and second period teachers to talk with them. Now she was supposed to go talk to her third period teachers, which were her P.E coaches. Walking outside where the class was supposed to be, her eyes first went to Ichigo, and she started in his direction.

"Hey," Ichigo greeted, wrapping an arm around her, and then kissing her once. "How'd it go?"

"Well I've already gone through everything with my first and second period teachers, and now I have to look forward to doing the rest now," Orihime replied, catching a yawn. Making her feel even more tired, so she moved to sit down on the bench near them.

Her sitting down had concerned Ichigo. He sat down next to her on the bench, and pushed her hair from her face. "You feeling okay?"

Nodding her head, Orihime sighed, and rubbed her forehead. "Just tired," she replied softly, finishing the job of pushing her hair out of her face, by tucking her hair back behind her ear. "I think I'm just going to go finish seeing the rest of my teachers, and then I'm probably going to go home. If you don't mind."

"Of course I don't mind," Ichigo told her, taking one of her hands. "If you need me at all, just text or call me. It doesn't matter if I'm in class."

"Okay, I will." Orihime replied softly, letting him kiss her once. After her stood up from the bench, she smiled when he kissed her on the top of her head. Watching him walk back to meet their friends for class, her eyes went to Coach Wells. We'll probably discuss the paper I'm going to have to write since I can't actually participate that much in this class. Hopefully she won't want to talk for long, I just want to go home and relax. Catching the eye of the coach finally, Orihime pushed herself up from the bench as the coach started her way.

An hour later

Having finished talking to all of her teachers over the past hour, Orihime was walking through the parking lot to her car. Feeling more exhausted as the past hour seemed to drag on. Getting to her car, she opened the backseat door first. Setting her school bag down, she closed that door, and moved to open the door to the driver side. Stopping as she felt a braxton hicks contraction, she took in a deep breath, and closed her eyes.

"Are you going to get in the car?"

Nearly jumping out of her skin, Orihime's eyes snapped open, and she looked across to the other side of her car to see Toshiro standing there. "Stop doing that!"

"What? Standing here? I'm not allowed to stand places anymore?" Toshiro asked, a smirk on his face.

At his teasing her, Orihime rolled her eyes. "You know exactly what I meant," she said, moving to actually get in the car. To her annoyance, the door opened to the passenger side, and Toshiro joined her in the car.

"I don't really know if I can say that I know what you mean," Toshiro said, shutting the passenger side door, and already turning on the air conditioning as soon as Orihime turned the car on. "Because lately you say things, and while I think they mean what they normally mean, there is some backwards meaning you have behind them. Which leads to me irritating you even more than I already have."

"Don't worry, you are doing a great job of that already," Orihime replied rather irritably, putting on her seatbelt.

"That wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but glad to see that I've only mildly irritated you this time," Toshiro said, planning to say more, but as she started backing the car out of the parking space, he changed his mind to something else. He slapped one hand down on the dashboard, and the other on the handle on the door. "Wait!"

Orihime hit the breaks rather harshly, and looked at Toshiro. "What is it?!"

"Okay one, I don't appreciate your tone," Toshiro started clearly to annoy her, as his hands went to his seatbelt. "And two, I need to put my seatbelt on. Because I don't want you to injure me while we are in this car."

Orihime scoffed at Toshiro's implication. "Are you saying that I'm not a good driver?"

"No, I never said that," Toshiro replied to her honestly. "If I directly said it, you would most likely hit me."

Rolling her eyes, Orihime shook her head. "I am too a good driver."

"I disagree, you could use some practice," Toshiro replied, buckling his seatbelt and pulling at it to make sure it was good, and then he looked to Orihime. "We can go now."

Again rolling her eyes, Orihime continued backing out of the parking space, and started driving. "That's coming from someone who's only drove a car maybe four times. I've been driving for three years."

"Which makes it so much more embarrassing for you that I drive better," Toshiro shot back, smirking now, as he crossed his arms.

"So now, it's not only that I'm not a good driver, but now you are a better driver than me?" Orihime asked, an amused expression on her face.

"Well now that you've said it, then yes," Toshiro replied, chuckling at the sight of her rolling her eyes again. He then raised an eyebrow at her turning up the air conditioning even more. "You know it's not that hot right?"

"It is to me, I'm burning up," Orihime replied, pulling out of the school's parking lot. "Changing the subject, why are you and the other shinigami still hanging around town?"

"What? You want me to leave?" Toshiro asked, pretending to be offended.

"Of course not," Orihime laughed at his dramatic tone. "I just figured that since the threat of Aizen is gone, you and the others would go back to the Soul Society."

This had Toshiro smirking back at her. "I'll tell you a secret. I may have possibly had a word with Shigekuni about how much of a danger magnet you are. I may have stretched it out a little, but it wasn't that hard to get Shigekuni to agree with me on that note. So naturally he agreed to us being able to stay here in this city more, as it appeared to be targeted more often than other places."

Orihime laughed despite trying not to. "That's really not funny, but it's kind of true."

"There's no kind of about it. It is true," Toshiro replied, chuckling at her laughing. "Yes, we'll be having to go back to the Soul Society still, but we get to stay here more often."

"That's good to know." Orihime said, slowing down to stop at a red light.

"Really? You are not mad that you are going to have to put up with Renji?" Toshiro joked, smirking at her raising her eyebrow.

"Renji's not a problem actually. We have similar personalities, and that's why we butt heads more. But, we have acknowledged that all our fights are never to be taken to heart," Orihime replied, slyly looking over to Toshiro then as she smirked. "Besides, if anything, I was going to say that I'm mad that I have to put up with you more. As you seem to make it your goal to scare the crap out of me all the time, always annoy me by knowing what's going through my mind without me having to say anything… That kind of thing."

Toshiro laughed at her words. "Well as much as it kills me, you are going to have to deal with it."

"You aren't even sorry," Orihime said, laughing along with Toshiro this time. Maybe it's a good thing I have Toshiro to hang out with today. He's a good distraction to keep me from thinking about the pain.

Later that day, after dinner

Orihime was currently doing the dishes, after offering to do them since the others had been doing them more often. She had been mostly finished up when she had to stop, and look down at her baby bump. "Mina, stop kicking me. I can't focus with you kicking so much," she said, feeling Mina relax in her kicking, she went back to doing the dishes. She picked up another plate, and rinsed it off. Just as she moved to put it in the dishwasher, one of Mina's powerful kicks startled her. Enough to where the plate slipped from her fingers, and then proceeded to fall and shatter on the floor. "Son of a bitch."

The sound of the plate breaking, followed by Orihime's out of character cursing, had Ichigo and Yuzu appearing first in the doorway. Ichigo starting to speak first. "What happened-"

"Stop," Orihime interrupted him, holding her hand up to keep him from walking into the kitchen. "There is glass all over the floor. I don't want you to step on it."

Yuzu, having been the only one wearing shoes, stepped carefully over the glass to go grab a broom and pan from the pantry. "I'll clean it up."

Sighing at Yuzu's words, Orihime frowned. "I'm so sorry."

"It's just a plate," Yuzu replied, smiling at Orihime to reassure her it's fine.

Isshin appeared in the doorway beside his son. "Yeah, we have plenty more. It's no big deal."

"I got your shoes," Karin said, appearing in the doorway as well. Having heard what was going on. She handed Ichigo Orihime's shoes.

Handing Orihime's shoes over to her, Ichigo watched her carefully put them on. "I want you to come out of the kitchen once you get your shoes on, okay? I don't want you stepping on the glass."

Orihime nodded, finishing up the hard task of managing to get her shoes on without losing her balance. Stepping away from the glass, and out of the kitchen, she brought both hands to her face, and sighed heavily. "My god this baby is driving me crazy."

"What do you mean by that?" Ichigo asked, an eyebrow raised.

"She kicked me, and it startled me enough to drop the plate," Orihime replied to him, sighing again, as she dropped her hands down to her bump.

That actually had Isshin laughing. "She must have a pretty strong kick then."

"All my internal organs that she's been using as punching bags agree with you there," Orihime replied, making the others laugh. She herself just sighed, and shook her head. She's getting so strong.

After the glass had been cleaned up, everyone kind of moved to relax in the living room. Orihime attempting to work on some homework off her computer. She wanted to try and get a head start on her assignments for the rest of the semester, as she knew that once Mina was born it would be harder to focus on her assignments. She wanted to work for most of the day today, but with Toshiro having came over, that didn't really end up happening.

Ichigo had been putting off his homework as he was watching television along with the rest of the family. Occasionally finding himself looking over to Orihime, but also trying to not hover over her. He finally did focus fully on her when he noticed her pause in her typing, and both hands move to her baby bump. He saw her expression of pain, and her deep breath in. "Braxton hicks contraction?"

"Yeah," Orihime sighed as the feeling passed. She let her head fall back on the pillows behind her, and she closed her eyes. These braxton hicks contractions are not helping me at all as I'm already in pain- Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt baby girls kicks move more towards the front of her baby bump. Just enough to where she felt her laptop start to slip off her lap.

Ichigo had noticed it too, and had reached over to catch the laptop in time. "Got it."

"Oh my god, Mina," Orihime said, her hands going back to her baby bump. "You've got to settle down in there."

"Wow, you could actually see where she kicked to make the laptop fall off," Yuzu said, having noticed the movement from the corner of her eye when it had happened.

"Damn, that girl is strong," Karin said, slight admiration for Mina not even being born yet, and showing some strength.

At Karin's cursing, Isshin's eyes went to her. "Karin."

"Sorry," Karin spilled out an apology that was obviously not all that sincere. She crossed her arms, and leaned back against the pillows. Mumbling about her dad being overly parental.

Orihime, having been waiting for Mina to relax, and that moment never happening, sighed heavily. "I can't work on anything anymore. She won't stop moving."

"That's the spirit," Ichigo said, a smile on his face as he watched Orihime. "Keep up with that positive attitude Orihime."

While Ichigo and the others laughed, Orihime clearly did not share in the amusement. "Ichigo."

Dropping his laughter at Orihime's less than pleased tone, Ichigo handed her laptop back to her. "You can work on this stuff later Orihime, you know? You should just relax now."

"I'm trying to do more of it now, because I have a feeling I'm not going to want to do anything next week. Nor when she actually gets here," Orihime replied, pushing the screen of her laptop back a bit more so she could see better. "I'll take a break when our friends come over later."

Ichigo nodded, and went back to settling against the couch. His eyes flickering over to the tv screen, then back to Orihime a few times.

"So when are you two going to move officially?" Isshin asked, after a moment of watching how his son was clearly trying to keep Orihime from having a mood swing, and getting angry with him. "Not that I want you to leave or anything. But, you've pretty much got everything you need in your new house. All you need is the rest of Mina's stuff, your stuff you have here, and then I guess day to day items."

"It's whenever she wants to I guess," Ichigo replied, his eyes going back to Orihime, and remaining on her.

Orihime looked up from her computer screen, and frowned back at Ichigo. "Why do I have to decide?"

"Because I want you to be comfortable. If you are too tired to do it before Mina is born, then we can wait to do it after," Ichigo replied, noticing that even with his explanation, Orihime still remained holding her frown on her face.

"I don't like making decisions," Orihime said, her head resting on the pillow that was behind her neck again. "I guess we can go ahead and do it before. Because it might be too complicated to do it with a newborn to look after at the same time."

"Okay, we'll do it before," Ichigo agreed, his eyes flickering over to his dad.

"Well we'll help whenever you need us to," Isshin said, trying to hold back on amusement at how his son was treading carefully whenever he spoke to Orihime. I guess he's learned over these past nine months of how to avoid Orihime's mood swings well.

A little over a half hour later

Having given up on getting any work done, Orihime had tried to find a more comfortable position for her back. After several attempts, she found herself settling on the floor in a pallet of pillows and blankets. Right in front of the couch she and Ichigo had been sitting on together. So when their friends finally arrived and walked in, Akira was already questioning as to why she was on the floor.

"Because," was Orihime's less than happy reply.

When Orihime didn't say anything more than that, Ichigo's eyes lifted from her to their friends. "She says that it's comfortable for her to lay on the floor like that."

"Okay then," Tatsuki said, stepping over Orihime to sit on the opposite side of the couch than Ichigo. The others sitting down on the other couches. Once sitting down, her eyes focused down on Orihime, who was on her phone. "What are you doing?"

"Looking up ways to jumpstart labor," Orihime replied honestly, scrolling down on the page she was reading. "Because I'm dying."

Hearing Orihime say that had Ichigo sighing. "You know Orihime, you really shouldn't be so adamant on going into labor early. You know that it is-"

"Better for her to stay in as long as she needs," Orihime interrupted him, one hand on her baby bump, the other holding her phone up. "But while Mina's just enjoying her stay inside my body, I'm the one who has to deal with all the pain and uncomfortable feelings. So, with feeling almost constantly in some kind of pain, uncomfortable, and exhausted from lack of sleep, I am making myself feel better by looking up ways to speed this process up. I'm dying over here Ichigo."

That had their friends laughing, and Ichigo smirking. "I know Orihime, and you are doing so well. Not complaining at all."

Over the course of the next hour, talk had went on about school, and how the year was almost over with. Orihime had stopped listening after a while. She had started to feel worse as the time had gone on. With how tired she was combined with braxton hicks contractions, overall body aches and a headache, it was much more soothing to not focus on a bunch of people talking.

"Hey," the sound of Tatsuki's voice hit Orihime's ears, followed by Tatsuki snapping to get her attention.

"What?" Orihime asked in a tone that board lined an annoyed groan.

Tatsuki rolled her eyes at Orihime's tone. "Are you listening to anything we're saying?"

"No." Orihime replied honestly.

"Well at least she's honest," Toshiro said, making the others laugh.

Tatsuki just propped her hands on her hips, and looked down to the floor where Orihime was. "Thanks a lot."

Orihime sighed, and pushed herself to sitting up. Her eyes going to Tatsuki. "You are so very welcome," she spoke in a sarcastic tone, and then held her hand out in Tatsuki's direction. "Now do me a favor, and help me up."

"Fine," Tatsuki agreed, standing up, she took one of Orihime's hands, and helped her stand up.

"Where are you going?" Ichigo asked, watching as Orihime walked around the back of the couch. He turned his head to look at her when she stopped.

"I don't feel all that good. I'm going to go lay down," Orihime replied, her eyes on Ichigo's. Already able to tell he was concerned.

"Is there anything I can get for you?" Ichigo asked her, holding back on several more questions he wanted to ask.

A braxton hicks contraction stopped Orihime from replying. Causing her to take a sharp intake of breath, one hand going to her baby bump, and the other resting on the couch. When it passed, she looked to Ichigo. "Thanks, but I don't need anything right now. I'll be fine. I just need to go lay down."

Ichigo kept his concerned look in his eyes, but finally took his hand off of hers that was resting on the back of the couch. Understanding to let this go for now. "Alright, well if you need anything-"

"I'll let you know," Orihime interrupted, offering him a smile. "Goodnight." She told the others, before moving to go up the stairs.

After Orihime was all the way upstairs, and Ichigo heard her door shut, he looked to the others. "I don't know how she's going to manage with the moving we're going to have to do over the next week."

"Well, just give me a call when you want to move. I'll hang out with Orihime while you do all the hard work," Tatsuki said, sitting back down on the couch.

That made the others laugh, but Chad spoke up more seriously. "Let us know as well. We'll help with whatever we can." The others nodded in agreement.

"Thanks," Ichigo said, his eyes moving to the stairs, as his thoughts went to Orihime. I could tell she wasn't feeling to well over the past hour and a half. But, she always brushed off any questions that related to if she was feeling alright. With a smile and a laugh. That thought had him sighing. Just a little more than a week left of her pregnancy. Her due date's really close now… I don't know about Orihime, but I don't if I'm prepared for this. The past nine months have certainly gone by in a blink of an eye. To think that this time next week, I could be a dad…


A/N: So Orihime has a little more than a week left before her due date, and is already taking off from school. How do you think her last week is going to go? Do you think she'll make it to her due date? Or do you think she'll go early or later? One of my favorite scenes to write was definitely between Toshiro and Orihime leaving the school. I love their friendship! What was your favorite scene?

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