His head throbbed and felt like total hell whenever he tried to move.

Yeah…I'm definitely still alive…

Renji mused to himself. From the few seconds he managed to move his sore arms about, there were no traces of scarring anywhere on his body, meaning that either someone from Squad Four had managed to arrive, or Orihime did her magic on him while still unconscious.

He groaned as he tried to sit up, but a gentle hand pushed him back downwards, and alerted Renji to someone else being in the room as well. Drowsily he opened his eyes, and he sharply hissed at the bright mix of sunlight from the open window shades and artificial florescent light from the ceiling. "Shh, you shouldn't be moving just yet, son…"

That was a man's voice… Renji thought, and with blurry eyes he saw a silhouette of a well dressed man kneeling next to his mat. "K-Kazu-"

"Yup, it's me…" the old man said with an animated—but hushed—voice. "…But try not to speak; you're still sore from that fight, aren't you?" Renji's eyes began to focus, and the room around him began to take shape. Nodding while pinching his nose bridge, in a slight attempt to quell his throbbing head, Renji blinked again to see the smirking old man's face looking down at him. "Now, now, I don't have much time to explain…" he continued in a rushed tone. Placing a hand over Renji's eyes, he slowly pushed the bedridden man onto his back again. "Just sleep, and get well as soon as possible…" Kazuhiro's voice echoed in the corners of Renji's mind.

…try to return to Sereitei once you recover, Renji…you have some business to attend there…

"Boy, I needed that bathroom break…" Chin proudly announced upon entering the room. Taking no mind to the open bedroom door, he was however, taken back by the now stirring red haired man in the middle of the room. "Oh wow, Vice Captain Abarai?" Stuttering what to do, he realized the best course of action was to rush to tell the others. "Wait right here, Renji...I mean, Vice Captain Renji…I'll just get everyone up here!"

Groaning to consciousness, Renji blinked his heavy eyelids while staring up to the ceiling. Huh… was what he believed was his first thought, casually taking in the feeling of déjà vu. "Zabimaru…you there?" He breathed disappointedly at the lack of response, meaning that his Zanpakuto had to be in a different room. "Weird…could've sworn that I sensed you right here…"

A horde of thumping up the stairs stole his attention, just as a mess of people came into view at the open doorway. "Hey Renji, are you alright?" Orihime was the first to chirp and enter, closely followed by the other adults and the girls.

"How are you?" Uryuu asked seriously. With infant cradled in his left hand, he checked over the red haired man's symptoms by just looking at him, and confirmed Renji's pulse using his right. "Your vitals are all good…but it would be best if you rested for a bit more…"

"No…" Renji groaned as he sat up, "…thanks, but I think I've done enough lying around for a while…"

"Are you sure?" Emiko asked with concern, "Wouldn't you want to stay for a bit? I mean, until Doctor Ishida is completely sure with your condition, of course…" Inside, Renji was ecstatic at the prospect of the young girl's proposal, although it all depended on the consent of her mother, of course. With a strange subtlety, the red haired man glanced at Tatsuki for the first time in a while, which without his own knowledge was the last in a series of glances from the rest currently in the room—excluding the infant, of course.

"Why not…" Tatsuki hesitantly buckled to the pressure, whether or not she truly thought she felt a slight queasiness to the idea. "As long as you're okay with this, Emiko, then I guess I don't really have a choice…" she easily feigned a lack of reluctance on her part, and knew full well the position that Orihime and Uryuu had on the man's stay in their house without needing to ask. The other man, however… "Well, I guess all that leaves is you, Chin." She more than eagerly changed the subject, "Do you have a place to stay?"

"Well, I have a few ideas in mind, Ms. Arisawa." He answered in an instant, "Although I have some business to attend to with Ichigo, I guess I'll just be staying with Mr. Urahara at the shop."

"So, that settles what I was concerned about." Uryuu happily spoke up. Readjusting the infant's position in his arms, the doctor made his way back to the door. "If you'll excuse me." He said while bowing his head, "come on, we have some thing to clean up downstairs." Taking the hint, Chin followed behind the Quincy Doctor, and the two girls closely followed him as well. Only three people were left in the room now, though that quickly changed when Uryuu popped back in, and gently tugged on—or perhaps dragged was the better word— his wife to follow him as well.

"Wait Uryu, I want to see them g-" was all she managed to say before the guestroom door closed with a click. With the curious orange haired woman out of the room, only two people remained in the room; Renji and Tatsuki. It didn't take long for them to realize that was what Uryuu had planned all along, but it was already too late by the time Tatsuki caught wind of something suspicious radiating from that bespectacled man.

Damn you, four-eyes…when I get my hands on you… she thought, but the growl that came from the man clearing his throat soon took her attention instead, "I guess you haven't…told her, huh?" Renji said openly, without a second thought to his words. "It's okay…I think you did the right thing…" he added, stopping Tatsuki from responding. What he could not interrupt however, was a quick smack to the back of his head.

"It isn't the right thing, you dumbass…" she growled, crossing her arms in front of the confused red head. "Do you know how much it hurts to not know your own father?" Renji, although his head still throbbed, took note to the woman's sudden change in tone. "Izumi was a great dad to Emiko, but…" her voice softened, and her eyes glanced away from him and towards an arbitrary wall.

"Something bad happen?" Renji asked warily, to which Tatuski gave off a long and drawn out sigh. It was a sigh that said 'of course something happened, you oblivious moron and I really don't want to explain it again…' "You don't have to say anything about it…I shouldn't have asked…" Renji said apologetically, to which Tatsuki murmured her "no's" and "don't worry's" with a similar tone of voice. "Seriously, it wasn't my place to ask, I mea-"

"Will you just let me explain, already!?" Tatsuki urged, prompting an immediate end to their bickering. "Geez…" she breathed out with irritation, though not being able to suppress a slight grin, "you're just as stubborn as I remembered…" her lively face returned to one that was solemn, her grin melted away and the slight sparkle in her eyes changed back to a slightly blurry hue as it was when she just entered the room. "When we first met, Izumi was so charming and nice, and wanted to keep seeing me despite finding out about Emiko."

She sighed again, and wrapped her arms around her legs, which were pressed against her chest as she sat on the floor. "When he proposed, I…was just so happy that I could be a regular mother, of a regular family, but unfortunately, Izumi was thinking along the same lines…" Tatsuki softly pressed her teeth against her bottom lip as she continued her story, "After a while, he didn't like that I fought for a living, and he started to say that all he really wanted was a house wife…long story short, we had a major argument and he left without a second thought…" she scoffed at the memory, and slowly shook her head back and forth in disbelief.

"I'm sorry…" Renji and Tatsuki both knew that it wasn't his fault, but it was obvious that he was at least trying to comfort her. "…it sucks how you're always attracted to losers and jerks…" Although it seemed this started an awkward silence, she suddenly snorted loudly, and then laughed while failing at holding it in.

"Uh, thanks…" she said after her laughing died down a bit, and she gently wiped small tears from under her eyes. "…thanks…" she sighed again, although it was more out of relief this time. Her warm smile sent shivers down Renji's sore spine, but the sudden creak of the door sent Goosebumps down both of their skins. With one final creak, the hinges could no longer take the force placed on the doorframe, and gave in and broke, sending the door crashing down to the floor. More surprising however, was the group of screams of the people now lying on top of the broken door. "What the heck!?"

"Oh…uh…" Orihime was the first to speak out. Perhaps because she was on top of the pile—Uryuu and Chin under her, while the two girls (the infant cradled possessively in Setsuko's arms) looked in wonder as they explored the ruckus of the hallway from their shared room. Thinking fast, Orihime quickly glanced downwards to the two under her in an effort to change the subject, "So Chin, uh…how was Ichigo and Rukia?"

"..."

-- OC Trivia Corner!!! -- (part 5)

Emiko Arisawa is a single child, and quite mature for her age. With limited tutelage from her mother, Tatsuki, Emiko had managed to reach the rank of brown belt by the age of nine. She is part of the school drama club and was elected by a large margin in her class to take the leading role of the school play, of which she was originally hesitant to try out for. Emiko has been quite spiritually aware for as long as she could remember, and is even fond of Kon's wacky and quirksome personality. Her parents had just recently divorced, the settlement being that Tatsuki could retain full custody while her "father" gained all material assets. She feels a strange attachment to Renji, and senses that his personality is quite endearing, almost father-like.

Height: 160 cm

Likes: Drama club, Aiko, Setsuko, Kon, martial arts

Dislikes: bullies, mean people, tooth drills, dentist visits

Birthday: September 1

Favorite Beverage: mint flavored Boba Tea

--

Kon: Of the three girls, she's the nicest! Why can't she adopt me, huh!?