ARRANGED LOVE OR COERCION?

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or it's characters:)

"Speaking"

"Thinking"

"Zanpakuto/Hollow"

Chapter 20: Explanations and compromise

The following morning did not start well for ichigo, her morning sickness was taking it's toll on her, she has been in the bathroom for close to an hour emptying the contents of her stomach."I officially hate morning sickness and being pregnant as a whole." she thought.

"Ichigo are you alright?"

"Do I look alright to you Kuchiki?" she growled glaring daggers at him." All this is your fault to begin with." she added after rinsing her mouth still glaring.

"I know it's my fault and I am sorry. Is there anything I can do to help?"

Ichigo's gaze softened when she noticed he looked very remorseful, she sighed tiredly, she walked up to him and hugged him resting her head on chest. "Can we stay like this for a while?" she asked and he nodded hugging her in return." I am sorry I lashed out at you like that again. It's just that all this throwing up is beginning to frustrate me."

"It's ok I understand. Truth be told it's really my fault you are in this situation right now and I am very sorry" he said brushing his fingers through her long orange hair.

"Ne...Byakuya?"

"Yes?"

"Do you love me?"

"More than my life." he answered without hesitation. "If you really do love me as you say, be honest with me and tell me why you sealed my memories. I know you lied the last time, so please be truthful with me this time ." she said looking into his gray eyes. When he did not respond, she tried again by asking "Was it because you had regrets after what happened between us?"

"No Ichigo what I felt that night was guilt not regret." he admitted.

"Guilt? Why is that?" she asked.

"The guilt that I was being selfish towards you once again. You see when we got married I knew it won't be a happy or peaceful marriage since we both couldn't stand each other. But I was ready and determined to bear all the fights and arguments since you were the only one strong willed enough to deal with me and my clan. But, it seems Kami-sama had other plans for us."

"What do you mean?"

"Falling in love with you wasn't part of my plan Ichigo, I tried to create distance between us when I noticed the effect you had on me and to suppress my growing feelings. but it did not work because I was hurting you and myself by doing that. You see the reason why you couldn't get pregnant at first was my doing. I always used a protection kido spell on myself that prevented me from impregnating you. I thought in that way you will be able to find some semblance of freedom and happiness in soul society and not feel caged-"

Throughout his explanations, Ichigo had remain silent, but then she interrupted him saying. "You know Byakuya things don't always go according to plan because there will always be situations that will cause us to improvise or change plans. So tell me why didn't you use the spell that night? Did you forget?"

"No I did not forget I choose not to use it. When you asked me to prove to you that I can love you. I realized that instead of reducing the pain I caused you by forcing an arranged marriage on you, I was hurting you more by ignoring your feelings and mine. That night when I came to you I wanted to make you understand how deep my feelings for you were. But then I felt guilty later on for coming to you that night when you were in a weak emotional state of mind and that I had somehow taken advantage of you again."

"Tell me something Byakuya If you felt guilty as you say, why then did you make a bet with that old hag behind my back?"

"My main reason was so that she could give you a break. I equally suspected that me failing to use the protection kido spell might lead to you ending up pregnant, but I had to wait for at least two weeks to be certain. When you and aunty had your argument and she came to me asking me to force you to take the fertility medicine, I decided to use a two weeks deadline as an alternative for her to leave us alone for a while."

"If after the two weeks deadline I hadn't conceived what will you have done?" she asked with a raised eyebrow

"I found out from sensei after that night that you were a Shiba. His main reason for telling me was so that I can protect you from my clan if by any chance they found out. So I thought of using that information as a last resort to get our marriage annulled he admitted guiltily.

"Wow...I knew you were a genius but I will have never suspected you were this manipulative." she said with a pained expression on her face. "Was the love you felt for me so insignificant that you decided to give up on me so easily?"

"I thought setting you free and letting go was my only way of atoning for all the heartaches I caused you. But then it seems I was being an idiot again"

"True you were an idiot. You did not even take my feelings into consideration in those plans of yours. I have forgiven you but I feel so betrayed, It will take time for me to trust you again."

"I understand-"

"No you don't, marriage is a sacred commitment meant for better and for worst you can't just toil with people's emotions as though you were playing a shogi game Kuchiki its not fair most especially with the emotions of your life partner. I know we both did not want this relationship from the start but I thought we had passed that stage and somehow become friends."

"I am sorry Ichigo. I messed up our marriage didn't I?"

"Not completely this little treasure growing in me is a proof that our relationship wasn't a complete mess, I appreciate your honest answers today. It might have hurt to hear some of them, but I feel better now knowing there aren't secrets between us anymore. I will stay here in Karakura for now until the baby is born. You can come visit us at anytime. I know with time we will fix our problems.

"Thank you Ichigo."

There was a knock at the door, after which the person on the other side opened the door coming in with a tray of food in hand. "Ichi-nee here is your-" she started saying before noticing Byakuya and Ichigo still locked in their embrace. she shouted "Aaaaaaah! who are you and what are you doing to my sister? DAD! there is a man In nee-chan's room and he is harassing her" Yuzu's reaction caused the couple to sweat drop.

"Umm... Yuzu you can stop screaming for help, this is Byakuya my husband and dad knows he is here."

"Huh..really?"

"Yeah, Byakuya this is my sister Yuzu, Karin's twin. Yuzu this is Rukia's Nii-chan"

"Eeh..sorry about earlier. Nice to meet you Byakuya-nii" Yuzu said with an embarrassed blush

With an amused smile he responded " Nice to meet you too little one."

"Ne...Ichi-nee you were right he is really cut-OOUMMM" she did not finish her remark because Ichigo covered her mouth with her hands. Byakuya raised an eyebrow at his wife's reaction and asked "What did you tell them about me? I got the same reaction from Karin last night."

"Nothing but the truth. So don't you have captain duties today?"

"Are you kicking me out?"

"Is it working?"

"I will leave in a few. I need to talk to your dad first. Oh you might want to release your sister she is already turning blue"

"Ooups! sorry Yuzu."

"It's ok Ichi-nee. Ne Byaku-nii since you are Rukia-chan's Nii-chan how old are you? she told she was 150 years old the last time she was here"

"Yuzu that is rude!"

"No it's fine Ichigo. well I am 200 years old little one and it is equivalent to 20 years in the human world."

"Oh ok, so how did you and Nee-chan meet?"

"Yuzu I don't think you really want to know how I first met this guy." Ichigo said pointing at the raven haired man.

"Why not? I want to know was it love at first sight?"

"No on the contrary he tried to kill me and almost succeeded." Ichigo said bluntly.

"WHAAT?" the younger girl shouted. "You are kidding right?"

"No she is not" Byakuya said.

"Ok then what about the second time I am sure it was better since you are now married with a baby on the way how was it like?"

"Nope he still tried to kill me but I kicked his ass." Ichigo said with a confident smirk.

"Huh...I need to go." Yuzu said leaving the room in hurry muttering something along the lines of "Those two are crazy." When she was gone the two started laughing.

"Ichigo you are so mean I think you scared poor Yuzu to death"

"It serves her right for being so inquisitive."

"If you say so. Try to eat something before the food gets cold I need to talk with your dad."

"Oh ok, see you later then." She said and he responded with a nod and left the room.

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Byakiuya entered the clinic section of the house and found Isshin looking through the files of his patients. isshin looked up when he came in and then looked back at the papers he was holding.

"Leaving already Kuchiki?"

"Yes Kurosaki-san. But first I apologize for the way I behaved when we last met"

"It's fine kid you were drunk anyways and I am happy you got to your senses and came looking for her. So what can I do for you?"

"I will like to know the story of what caused the drift between the Kuchikis and Shibas. That is if you don't mind telling me."

"Stop being so formal with me kid we are family now. It's ok for you to call me dad or father. And I don't mind telling you the story. Have a seat Byakuya." isshin said gesturing to a chair and the noble sat down.

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AND CUT!

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