Prompt: Day 25, Courage
This is a sequel to Happiness Takes Us by Surprise, and a prequel to Like Strawberry, Like Daughter.
Rukia paced the length of the hallway on bare feet outside the bedroom she shared with her husband, one hand rubbing her severely distended abdomen. It was the middle of the night and their home was quiet save for the muffled sound of her feet rising and falling against the polished wooden floor. It wasn't the first time she'd spent half the night pacing – even with the body pillow Ichigo had brought back from a visit to the world of the living, it was hard to get comfortable enough to sleep.
It didn't help that for the past week she'd been having false contractions. They were worse in the middle of the night, of course, and she'd begun sleeping during the day to catch up on sleep.
"Rukia?" Ichigo's voice was soft, and moonlight streamed in from a nearby window to wash over his face as he stood in the doorway. "Are you alright?"
"It's just more of those false spasms," she said, and smiled at him even as she rubbed the small of her back. "Sorry for waking you."
Ichigo hummed under his breath and stepped up behind her, hand replacing hers on her back and massaging gently. "I don't mind. Just wish I could do more to help." His words finished on a low grumble, but his hand kept rubbing and he stooped to kiss her forehead. "Want me to walk with you?"
Rukia groaned softly and leaned her head against his shoulder, even as her back arched into his hand. "Just doing that feels really good," she admitted. But her body jerked suddenly, and she let out an involuntary cry of pain as she bent nearly double. Ichigo's hands were there in a flurry to support her, and she clung to his hand as pain rippled through her.
"That didn't look like a Braxton Hicks," Ichigo said, nervousness threading through his voice, when Rukia straightened up in his arms.
Liquid splashed between them and Rukia's cheeks flushed bright red with embarrassment. "I don't think it was," she managed.
Ichigo's eyes widened and a look of panic crossed his face, but he took a deep breath. "Let me clean up and we'll walk a while." Rukia ducked her head and he tipped her back up with one finger under her chin. "Really? We've bandaged each other more times than I can count, and you're embarrassed?" he teased softly.
"Fool," Rukia muttered. "It's different." Ichigo just scoffed and kissed her forehead before he went into the bedroom to find a towel.
"Walk with me," he said gently when he was done, and tucked her arm in his. "It's no use going to the relief station until you're further along." He had a watch strapped onto his wrist.
Rukia mumbled her agreement and they walked slowly down the hallway and into the courtyard. They paced together under the moonlight, and Ichigo silently timed how frequently Rukia grimaced with the pain of a contraction.
"Is it time yet?" Rukia asked when it was nearly dawn.
Ichigo glanced at his watch. "You're still close to ten minutes apart. Do you want to sit for a while?" He indicated a bench beneath a weeping willow.
Rukia huffed out a breath but nodded. "Yes, my feet are getting tired." She allowed her husband to lead her to the bench; he helped her sit before sitting next to her, and one arm came up around her again.
"She'll be here with us really soon," Ichigo murmured, a note of wonder in his voice. "Can you feel her waking up?"
Rukia hummed softly in agreement. They'd both been able to feel the baby's reiryoku for months, and even now it was growing stronger, reiatsu reaching outwards and seeking them. They both drifted a little in the space between dawn and daylight, and Rukia dozed off against his shoulder a few times.
Eventually, Ichigo summoned a hell butterfly with a thought. He murmured to it and sent it flying off. "I've let Captain Kotetsu know. We should change and get going."
Rukia nodded hesitantly and followed him back to their rooms, breathing in deeply. She'd let her hair grow long, down past the small of her back, and she said, "Get me a hair tie too," as Ichigo walked her back into their bedroom.
He dressed quickly in a shihakusho and helped her into a more modest yukata than the one she used for sleep, then went into their washroom for a hair tie. When he came back out, he stepped behind her and with gentle hands looped her hair into a bun so that it would be up and out of the way. "I'll carry you," he decided, and Rukia scoffed at him before she groaned in pain again. "No protesting," Ichigo said, and lifted her into his arms, bag slung over one shoulder.
Rukia rested her head on his shoulder as he speed-walked to the entrance of their home, and Ichigo slipped into flash-step, holding her tight to him as he rushed them to the courtyard of Squad Four. Isane and Kiyone were all waiting at the door when they arrived, and Ichigo set Rukia on her feet gently, hand steadying her. He raised the other in greeting and Kiyone hurried forward.
"Rukia! Oh, I'm so glad it's finally time!" the blonde chirped as she slid an arm behind Rukia's back and helped her inside. "We'll take it from here, Lieutenant Kurosaki."
Ichigo blinked. "Take it from here? I'm coming with you. I'm not just leaving Rukia alone!" He strode into the relief station and followed Kiyone as she walked Rukia into a private room. "Her contractions were four minutes apart when we left home."
Kiyone stared at him, and Ichigo stared back. "We took a class," he reminded her.
"So you did," Kiyone acknowledged. She handed Rukia a thin yukata. "Change into that, Rukia, and then get onto the bed and I'll examine you." She looked at Ichigo again and wrinkled her nose. "You probably won't want to watch this part."
Ichigo scowled, but his expression softened as he looked to Rukia. "Do you want me to stay or go?" he asked her.
"You'd better let Byakuya nii-sama and Sentarou know what's happening," Rukia said as she began untying the belt of her yukata. "Come back in when I'm settled."
He nodded and stepped outside, making sure the door was shut behind him. Ichigo summoned another pair of hell butterflies and sent one winging off to Kuchiki Manor; he sent the other to Sentarou. "Wonder if he won the SWA's latest pool," he muttered as he waited outside the door.
There was a cry of pain from inside Rukia's room and Ichigo took a deep, nervous breath. Then he opened the door and walked inside to join his wife.
Their daughter arrived in Soul Society just shy of ten in the morning, and promptly knocked half of Squad Four and most of the relief station's other patients to the ground with the reiatsu she poured out with her first cry. Ichigo just stared in relief from where he sat cradling Rukia to his chest, and then gently clutched Rukia close, burying his head in her shoulder for a moment.
Isane, though, stepped away from Rukia's bedside with the infant, and in a few minutes the blanket of out-of-control power diminished.
"Well. We certainly know whose daughter she is," Kiyone laughed a little breathlessly. "I should have expected that. Lieutenant Kurosaki, please allow us a few minutes alone with Rukia." When Ichigo lifted his head and glared, Kiyone glared right back.
"Fine. I'll go see if anyone else is here yet," he growled. But he kissed Rukia's temple as he disentangled himself and stepped into the waiting room.
Byakuya was there, looking entirely unruffled by the morning's proceedings as he drank tea. Well – entirely unruffled, Ichigo noticed, except for the fact that his hand gripped the cup so tightly he thought it might crack. "Well, Kurosaki Ichigo?" he asked calmly.
Ichigo grinned. "We have a daughter," he said. But then he was shaking all over, suddenly, and his brother in law shoved him into an empty chair with a surprisingly gentle hand. Reiatsu blanketed him, not threatening but wrapping him in firm pressure.
"Breathe," Byakuya commanded, and when Ichigo's shivering subsided somewhat he put a cup of tea in front of the younger man's face.
Ichigo took it and drank the whole cup in one gulp. It was still warm but not hot and chased away the last of the shaking. "Thanks," he rasped.
"Hn." Byakuya sat back down and sipped his own tea more gracefully. His reiatsu receded.
Before Ichigo could say anything, Isane stepped into the waiting room and grinned at him. "Come meet your daughter," she said, and he was out of the chair again in an instant.
Rukia was in a different room, one much quieter and more like a bedroom, when Isane led Ichigo back inside. She was on a larger bed than Ichigo expected, wearing a different yukata. Her hair had been tidied. But more importantly, there was a tiny, swaddled infant in her arms. As the door closed, leaving just the three of them inside, Ichigo stepped forward and had to surreptitiously swipe away a tear.
"Ichigo," Rukia murmured. "Come meet your daughter."
He didn't need a second invitation but came to her bedside. One fingertip touched the little girl's cheek, and Ichigo smiled as she opened her eyes. "Oh, wow. She has your eyes," he whispered. His mouth found Rukia's in a long, slow kiss. One that said thank you, I love you, I'm glad you're okay.
"Sit with me? The bed's big enough."
Ichigo gently shifted Rukia over and then climbed up beside her, arms gently wrapping around both her and their baby. "I love you. I love you both." He kissed her temple.
"We love you too." Rukia grinned up at him. "She's ours," she said. "Our Sumiye."
"Yeah," Ichigo managed, and when Rukia shifted Sumiye into his arms he held her close. "Welcome to the world, our bright girl."