"Ishida-kun!" Orihime exclaimed, surprised to see him at the hospital she worked at.
"Orihime, how are you?" he said, smiling.
"Oh, I'm good, so is Ichigo. I didn't expect to see you here." She smiled, adjusting the scrub top she was wearing.
"Ah, that's good. I'm just here to have a meeting with Dr. Kiyota. I'm with my supervisor. Just on break, so I thought I'd come to the cafeteria. Didn't expect to see you here." He smiled again, and Orihime thought there was something behind that smile, but she just couldn't place it.
"I'm off early today, and Ichigo has to pull a third shift, want to go have a drink after your done? Catch up?" she asked, tucking a stray hair behind her ear thoughtfully.
Uryū smiled again. "Sure, here, I'll give you my number. Call me when you get off," he said, handing her a business card.
Orihime went back to work, finishing out here day, but she kept thinking about meeting with Uryū. They hadn't seen him in at least a year, and who knew what had happened in that time for him. She knew that for them, not much had happened, despite their attempts to have a baby. When she got off, she called Uryū, and they decided to meet at a place near Orihime and Ichigo's apartment to have a drink and a bite to eat.
"So, tell me, what has been happening in your life?" she asked as they sat down the drinks.
"Oh, just school and work. I'm working on my surgeon residency, so there's that. Really, not much interesting," he shrugged, sipping the sake. "What have you and Ichigo been doing lately?"
"The same, really. Work and school. I'm going for advanced nursing and he's going for his general medical practitioner so he can take over the clinic in Karakura Town from his father soon," she said, still a bit bitter about that decision.
"Back to Karakura Town?" Uryū asked.
Orihime sighed. "Ichigo's idea, not mine. I'd rather stay in Tokyo and just visit, but he insists on taking over the clinic there."
"Oh. Well, at least it will be familiar to you," he smiled again, and Orihime couldn't help but sense that same thing, that there was something behind that smile.
"Yeah, things have been good," she said, but her voice betrayed her.
"What is it? Something's wrong," Uryū, astute as always, picked up on her emotions easily enough.
They set down the ramen they had ordered, and she picked at it for a moment. "Well, you see, we've been trying for a baby."
"A baby?" Uryū asked. "That's wonderful!"
"It would be, but we've been trying for four years. We can't seem to get pregnant. I think there might be something wrong with me, but I don't want to ask the doctor. I'm afraid of the answer," she admitted, looking at him.
"It might not be you, you know," Uryū pointed out.
She looked up and smiled. "It probably is, though. You know that's the most likely thing."
Uryū was silent and they ate for a few minutes. Then he sighed and reached across the table to take her hand. "I've been thinking of the past a lot."
Orihime looked at him. "I have too, you know. I was thinking the other day about when we went to rescue Rukia and were running all around the Seireitei. I miss that time."
"I was thinking of that terrible fight with that bat Espada, when Ichigo turned into that…thing." His hand rubbed his belly. "I would have died without you."
Orihime nodded. "My powers certainly came in handy when we needed them."
"Have you used them lately?" Uryū asked.
Orihime shook her head. "I haven't needed to. Ichigo doesn't have time to hunt hollows much these days, so I haven't been needed. That's why I'm a nurse though. I can still help heal people. Though, it's hard when someone comes in hurt, and I know I could reject their wounds so easily. Sometimes, it's painful to me."
Uryū squeezed her hand. "I can only imagine."
"When we're done, want to come back to our place and relax for a while?" Orihime asked suddenly. She didn't feel like being alone right then.
Uryū hesitated for a minute. "Uh, sure. I don't have to be up early. We can talk more about things that we can't talk about here."
They finished up and Orihime took Uryū back to their apartment. She showed him around, showing off various things she had collected and the pictures they'd taken at various vacations they'd been on. They chatted for a while about things that had happened to them in the past, and Orihime couldn't shake the feeling that Uryū was holding something back. She opened a bottle of wine and poured them each a glass as they continued to reminisce about Soul Society and their adventures as teenagers.
After about half the bottle of wine was gone, Uryū suddenly grabbed her hand and kissed her knuckles. She blinked, surprised at the gesture. "What was that for?" she asked softly.
"I have to tell you something. I've been in love with you since those days in school together. I just…I never said anything because of Ichigo. I knew you loved him, and I didn't want to come between you." He looked away.
"What?" she asked, eyes going wide at the admission. "You felt this way and never said anything?"
"I know. I'm a coward, and now it's too late to do anything. I don't even know why I told you. I just had to get it out there. I'll go, now," he said, moving to stand.
Perhaps because of the wine and the sake, but Orihime couldn't let him go after that. She reached out and grabbed his hand gently. He stopped and looked back at her.
"I never told you how I felt also. I loved Ichigo, yes, and I still do, but I also had feelings for you, more than friendship." She pulled him closer to her.
"Don't do this if you aren't serious," Uryū whispered, moving to put both hands on her shoulders. "I don't want to hurt Ichigo."
"I don't want to hurt him either, but does he need to know how we feel?" she asked, tears coming to her eyes.
"Don't cry, Orihime, I can't stand to see you cry," he said, reaching up to wipe away her tears.
Orihime didn't know what she was doing. She just knew how she was feeling, and she reached out to him, pulling him close, letting their lips meet for the first time. It was like something she'd lost a long time ago was brough back to her, and she felt like a teenager again. Before she knew it, they were in the bedroom, stripping their clothes and laying together. It was a spark of joy in the moment, and she felt something she had lost a long time ago with Ichigo. When it was over, though, she burst into tears. Uryū held her and let her cry.
"We can't tell Ichigo this ever happened," she gasped through her tears.
"I know. I won't see you again," he told her as he held her close.
"That's for the best," she whispered, and Uryū got dressed and left.
She debated deleting his number but decided to keep it because she couldn't quite remove it. Days went by, and she looked at Ichigo each day with a heavy heart. Every time they were together, it was on her lips to tell him what had happened, but she couldn't make herself confess the truth.
Then, the sickness happened. She was late this month, and already scared, and then the sickness hit her full force. She immediately went and took a pregnancy test, something they had on hand since they'd been trying. It was positive. She counted the weeks and realized to her horror that it might have been Uryū's baby. The timing was right. At that point, she had no choice but to reveal everything to Ichigo. But first, she had to tell Uryū.
"Uryū?" she whispered into the phone.
"Orihime. What is it? I'm in the middle of something." He sounded busy.
"I'm sorry to bother you, but it's important. Can you talk for a few minutes?" she hoped he could at least spare a few moments to help her.
"Um, yeah, just a minute, let me go to a private room," he said and as he moved, the noise behind him reduced. "Okay, what is it?"
"Uryū, I'm pregnant. And it might be your baby," she said, not knowing how to soften the blow.
"What? I know we didn't use anything, but you said you and Ichigo had been trying for four years, if you were having trouble…" he paused. "It could be mine, if Ichigo was the problem with why you couldn't conceive."
"I know, but I won't know for sure until the baby is born," she said, desperately trying to hold it together.
"I'll take care of you, and the baby, no matter who it belongs to."
Orihime nodded to herself, "Okay. I'll tell him tonight. Then can I come stay with you? I can't stay there, not after I tell him."
"Yeah, pack a bag and come to my apartment." He gave her the address and they hung up.
She told Ichigo and left. She had no choice. What she'd done, there was no forgiveness for. She wouldn't leave Ichigo without telling him the truth, but she couldn't stay after that. She knew it was wrong, and she would have to live with it. She moved in with Uryū, and they decided that after she divorced Ichigo, they would get married so he could better take care of the baby.
Months later, when everything was said and done, they got a visit from Rukia, no longer pregnant.
"What's happened?" Orihime asked her, resting her hands on her own belly.
"You broke up with Ichigo?" she asked, looking at her.
"Things happened between Uryū and me, and I couldn't stay with him," she explained.
Rukia stared at her. "I'm trying to piece together what happened to him, but he's in Hueco Mundo now."
"What?" she gasped. "How did he get there?"
"He opened a garganta himself, and from what Renji said, he's been turned into an Arrancar by that hollow Zanpakutō of his. Something was happening to him in Soul Society. They said they were helping him but he escaped for some reason. Something is going on for him to have run away," she said, sighing.
Orihime didn't know what to say to that. She just stared at Rukia for a while until the door to the apartment opened and closed, and Uryū came into the living room. Rukia glared at Uryū.
"What were you thinking?" she snapped.
Chastised, Uryū lowered his head. "I don't think I was."
She shook her head, then revealed to Uryū what had happened to Ichigo. Like Orihime, he wasn't sure what to make of it.
"We should go to Hueco Mundo and find out what's happening," Uryū said.
"You think he'd be any happier to see you than he was to see Renji?" Rukia asked, planting her hands on her hips.
Uryū bit down on his lip. "No matter what he says to me, he's still my friend. I betrayed him, and I haven't told him how sorry I am for what's happened. I can't leave things like this."
Rukia nodded. "I can't leave the baby alone. She's with Renji now, but Renji can go back. Soul Society wants to bring him back. There's been meetings about what to do because he's being protected by the Arrancar that have taken over Las Noches since Aizen's defeat. Soul Society doesn't want him to be in the hands of an enemy, and right now we don't know what the Arrancar intend to do."
"I'll take off from the hospital. I have time I can take," Uryū said.
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
"The hollows he's drawing are a problem," Grimmjow growled out at Starrk.
Starrk stood at the bank of monitors and was watching the perimeter of Las Noches. The local hollows were indeed stirred up and coming closer and closer. Plus, every alpha Arrancar in Las Noches was being affected by Ichigo's presence.
"I know."
"He needs to be claimed, and quickly," Grimmjow pointed out.
"It is not that simple. He is not just any Arrancar," Starrk sighed, scratching at the fuzz on his chin.
"Are you seriously trying to romance him?" Grimmjow asked, glaring at him. "Just fuck him already."
"He has had a trauma in the past that he has to move past," Starrk said. "I cannot simply force him to submit like a normal beta. I want to have children and forcing the issue will damage this chance. Remember, the beta is in control of the conception. If they reject the alpha, it will not take place. He must accept me."
Grimmjow sighed. He supposed Starrk was right. "Alright, alright. Whatever you want to do. I'll rally a group of Arrancar to go deal with the hollows. What about Soul Society? They're not done yet; I have a feeling."
Starrk was still staring at the monitors. "Soul Society will send more next time. They will be tenacious and continue trying to bring him back. They do not like losing a resource as powerful as Ichigo is."
"A resource?" Grimmjow arched a brow at Starrk.
"That's all he is to them," Starrk explained. "Tactically, losing a being with the kind of power Ichigo holds is a great loss. They will want to use him for their own ends. No doubt, him turning into an Arrancar will warrant many of them to want to experiment on him. Their scientist is as Szayelaporro was. They will want to dissect and understand how he came to be."
"Yeah, so what do we do?" Grimmjow asked.
"We prepare for them to come again. We know they'll be back, and we cannot let them have Ichigo. You deal with the hollow problem, and I'll handle Soul Society. They will send captains next time, and not Ichigo's friends." Starrk adjusted one of the camera angles and sighed.
"Alright, I'll go gather some bloodthirsty Arrancar who want to go fight." Grimmjow left the observation room and headed down to do just that.
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
Ichigo was worried about several things. Top of the list of worries was Soul Society. Then there was the hollows threatening Las Noches because of him. Just by coming here, he'd put them in danger. Of course, when he came here, he didn't know there was a whole society built since Aizen's time. He didn't know what to do, but it wasn't like he had any options.
"You appear to be thinking," came a voice from the doorway. Ichigo looked up to see Starrk standing there. Immediately, he flushed as the scent he exuded came over him.
"Um, yeah. Just about everything going on," he said, standing there and staring at him.
Aside from the hollow hole and the bone fragment that was around his neck, Starrk would have looked entirely human. And even though Ichigo had never thought about guys like this, he was attractive. Even his laid-back attitude was attractive. Ichigo knew that this was more than the instincts he'd been given when he turned into an Arrancar, it was the human piece of him showing itself. The instincts, though, were so strong to submit to him right then and there. Not to mention the smell itself was maddening. That, and after he was around Starrk for any amount of time, he felt arousal in such a way as he'd never felt it before.
"Would you like a tour of some of Las Noches? So you can see what we've built since Aizen was here?" Starrk asked, reaching a hand out toward Ichigo.
Ichigo hesitated. He hadn't been alone with Starrk before, so this would be a first. Every other time he'd been with him, he'd been with Nel.
"Oh, yeah, that would be nice," he said, reaching out and grasping Starrk's hand. Again, there was a practically electric feeling between them when they touched.
Starrk smiled lazily and nodded as he led Ichigo out of the room. Over the next few hours, Starrk and Ichigo walked around Las Noches. Starrk would occasionally explain what they were looking at. They came to the area where the dome used to be, and Ichigo found it was now open to the sky. The Arrancar had evened out the top where it had been damaged during his fight with Ulquiorra and turned it into an open-air area. It was actually quite breathtakingly beautiful. He led Ichigo to the fields, where they were growing crops with the aid of sun lamps and a canal system that they had put in. There were several things growing, all what Ichigo assumed were drought resistant plants of some sort or another.
"What's that?" Ichigo asked as they neared some sort of tower.
"Oh, that. It's a radio tower. The parts fell through the Dangai, and some of the Arrancar are trying to get any signals from it. I don't think there is anything in Hueco Mundo to find, though," Starrk said as they passed it.
Ichigo saw all kinds of Arrancar on the tour. There were more than he ever imagined, and he had to assume most were from Aizen's reign over Hueco Mundo. They all wore random combinations of clothes, with little regard to whether it was men's or women's clothing. Of course, Ichigo was finding that it was hard to tell on some Arrancar. Granted, it didn't matter in the end, since gender wasn't an issue here, only the status of alpha and beta. They came around to Ichigo's room again, and Starrk smiled again at him.
"You seem to have enjoyed our trip around Las Noches," he said.
Ichigo smiled. "I did. It was nice."
Starrk pulled his hand to his lips, kissing it gently. "It was a pleasure."
Ichigo, again, felt the wave of arousal at the gesture as Starrk released his hand. Ichigo almost regretted losing touch with him, wanting to feel more of that. But he swallowed nervously and looked away. Starrk took his leave and Ichigo went back into his room, closing his door. The arousal was only intensifying.
He growled and went to the bed, crawling into it under the covers and hoping he wouldn't be disturbed for a few minutes. He undid his obi and the fudonshi he was wearing and grasped himself firmly, moaning low in his throat. He couldn't believe he was doing this, something he only rarely indulged in, but the sensations Starrk left him with were simply overwhelming.
He laid on his side, stroking his hand over himself slowly, and for the first time, an image besides Orihime came to mind. It was Starrk, and Ichigo wanted to see where his scar on his chest ended. He wanted to strip him and look over his body and see what he was like underneath those clothes. His hand sped up as the images played in his brain. Then, he was overcome with an urge he'd had before, and had never actually done anything about.
He slipped his fingers down under him, touching himself around his entrance. He swallowed thickly and began to slide a finger inside himself, pulling his knees higher to his chest so he could reach easier. It was nearly an immediate reaction as he came hard, grunting as he spilled all over his other hand. He sighed, dropping his head to the pillow and hoping that there was clean linens for him to use because he'd made a mess of these.
You see how sensitive you've become, King.
"Shut up," he mumbled.
Starrk is your alpha. You only need to let him claim you and it will put a stop to the hollows your heat is drawing to this place.
"I know, but how can I after…after what happened?" he whispered into the pillow.
You've got to let go and get past that. Starrk will treat you right. Your pleasures will be as important to him as his own because only a satisfied beta will carry a child.
"What does that mean?"
It means that rape is unknown in the Arrancar world. Sure, they fight, and the alpha takes the beta when they win, but the beta chooses to submit to them. If something happens, and the beta doesn't submit, if the alpha was to force himself on the beta, no child will come forth. It is a union of souls, quite literally. That is why it is so easy for Starrk to do as he is now, despite his overwhelming desire to take you right away.
"He doesn't seem to be in a hurry, though…" Ichigo mused, snuggling into the pillow again.
He agreed to not force the issue and wait for ya. No matter his desire, he, unlike some people in the world, has control of himself. That is something that he prides himself on.
"I want him. I do. But knowing what will happen still makes me ill and I don't know how to change that."
Ya've gotta try. That's all. Know that giving up control, for once in your life, will feel amazing. Even better than the orgasm that claiming you will give. King, you've been in control for far too long. It's time to let go.