Name: Little Angel
Rating: PG
Genre: Romance/Fluff
Summary: Rukia experiences pregnancy and Ichigo watches.

Authors Notes: Hmm ... well, this is a random piece of fluff that came to me while dwelling on my baby brother. I call him my Little Angel.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or the characters.Thanks to CrystalRaindrop007 for Beta'ing!

Little Angel

It had been early March when our baby had been conceived. The wind was blowing outside, and a gentle layer of snow covered the ground. She tasted like hot chocolate, I'd noted as I kissed her softly. Her eyes had slipped closed as I ran my hands down her arms, letting the dress slide off with my scarred fingers.

I remember that day clearly; there was no way I could forget it. March third ... the day that had changed both of our lives forever.

It hadn't been until April fifteenth that Rukia had found out about the baby; and, even then, she didn't tell me right away. She'd been afraid of how I would react; we'd had never even talked about, or mentioned, a baby before. What if I wasn't ready to be a father? she'd worried. But when she told me, I had hugged her and her eyes had gone wide. I repeated, over and over happily, that I was going to be a daddy. Rukia smiled brightly and kissed me before my hands ventured down to her stomach; she wasn't even beginning to show yet, but I put my ear up against her stomach and whispered once again, "I'm gonna be a daddy."

It was only a week later that trouble had began to show. Morning sickness was starting to set in, I guess, because Rukia couldn't keep any food down. Nothing; not even liquids. I took her to my dad's, because I wanted her checked out right away, not sometime early Tuesday morning; the first that the doctors office could get us in. All he did was tell us that it was normal, and that if it kept happening, however, to go see the doctor so he could give Rukia some medicine.

And it did keep happening. Unable to eat, she had grown thin, more so than usual. She'd already lost about six pounds. She would throw up all morning, and then again whenever she ate something. I would just sit with her, rubbing her back gently and holding her in my arms. We were so worried she was going to lose the baby; she hadn't eaten in three days, almost four, and the little water she could manage to keep down was going toward both her and our baby's bodies, so there wasn't much for either of them. We went to the hospital.

"There are only a few mothers we see like this; almost all mothers we see have morning sickness, but none so bad that they can't eat. How many pounds did you say she's lost?"

My arms were wrapped tightly around my body; Rukia hadn't been eating for over a week now.

"Eleven."

"By now, she should be gaining weight, not losing it. She's already showing, because she is so thin. Most mothers, even small ones like your wife, Kurosaki-kun, start showing about three months. Rukia-san isn't even at two."

"Are ... are we going to lose the baby?" I asked, tears stinging in my eyes. I'd only known about me and Rukia's baby for about two weeks, but I knew that if we lost it, it would break both of our hearts.

"About ninety-nine percent of mothers we see this in lose their children. So ... probably. I'm so sorry, Kurosaki-kun. But you should probably tell Rukia-san ... and you should say goodbye together."

I was crying openly by that point. I didn't care who saw me. I was losing my baby before I'd even seen him. Him. I had a feeling it was a boy.

"Thank you."

I walked into Rukia's room and sat down beside her bed, taking her hand in mine. It was so small ... pale. I didn't understand how we hadn't already lost the baby. And then I did something I had never done before; I prayed. I begged God to spare the life of me and Rukia's baby. I begged him to please let our child live.

Then, the next day, Rukia was able to keep a small amount of food down. I didn't want to get my hopes up, because an ultrasound had shown that the baby was not as big as it should be. Where the baby should have been about an inch and a half along, it was only three-fourths of an inch.

Days and days past and Rukia was beginning to gain back the weight she had lost, but the doctors wouldn't let her out of the hospital.

"We're going to do an ultrasound, alright Rukia-san?"

"What's an ultrasound?"

I watched on, sitting in a backward chair with my arms crossed over the top, smiling as Rukia watched in awe as the nurse turned on the ultrasound machine and applied some gel to Rukia's stomach. She squeaked as the cold gel hit her soft skin.

"OK, now you're about ten weeks along, right?"

Rukia nodded happily, looking at the screen as the nurse got everything into focus. When a picture of the baby came into view, she pointed a shaky finger at the screen and asked quietly, "Is that my baby?"

The nurse nodded and Rukia was instantly captured.

I couldn't help but let my smile grow as both Rukia and the nurse laughed and smiled, trying to catch pictures of the baby's feet or hands and nose. There were five tiny toes on each foot and five tiny fingers on each hand; he was beautiful, and I still hadn't squashed the idea of calling our baby a 'him'.

I was so sure.

"Ichigo, lookit! Look at his tiny foot!"

Her eyes were glowing happily as she pointed to the screen. I moved over a little closer and just stared at the screen; the baby was moving around a little, and even though Rukia couldn't feel his movements, she placed her hand on her stomach, her cheeks a light red as her violet eyes concentrated on the screen.

Rukia and the nurse, an American named Michelle, played around for nearly forty-five minutes, watching the baby move and trying to see its face. They took picture after picture with the machine; they were all black and white, and Michelle, having children of her own and having watched Rukia go through the last few hard weeks, was having as much fun as the soon-to-be-mother.

It was perfect.

When Rukia finally came home, she began to work on the photo album that she had asked for. I watched her from across the room, smiling when she stuck her tongue out of the side of her mouth as she searched through the stack of picture she had.

"Ichigo, what do you think of this one as a cover picture?"

I walked over, sitting down beside her to see what she was doing. The photo album's first four pages were filled with pictures of the baby still inside Rukia's womb. His foot ... his hand ... nose, everything. They had really gotten some good pictures. And besides the point that she was only three months along now, the baby's tiny foot was perfectly formed. I reached out my hand and brushed my fingers over it before looking at the picture Rukia was holding up for me.

It was a picture of our baby; he was tiny, but I could make out most of his body ... he seemed complete, but we both knew that he had a while to go before he was ready to be born.

"It's perfect. What are you doing, anyway?" I asked, watching as she put the picture in the front of the album. The soft, blue picture pouch covered up the words "Kurosaki Rukia, ten weeks pregnant. May 11th" that had been printed on the picture from the machine.

"I'm making a book for our baby."

"A ... book?"

"Mm hm."

She held up the photo album for me to see. On the front, she had had the words "Before I was Born" carefully sewn. I watched her as she continued to add pictures, writing on some of them and circling things, pointing them out, before going onto the next page.

When she was four months pregnant, the naming game began.

"Hmm ... what about Evangeline for a girl?" Rukia suggested, curling back into the couch, her hand on her stomach, gently rubbing. I sat down beside her and laid my head on her shoulder, leaning down to kiss her stomach.

"But that's not a ... "

"Japanese name, I know. But it's so pretty."

"What about Kaori? Or Aiko? Or what about ... Hisana or Masaki?"

"I like Evangeline."

"You're not changing your mind, huh?" I asked, rolling my head so I was looking up into her face. She smiled and nodded, saying, "Nope. If our baby's a girl, I want to name her Evangeline."

"What about a boy?"

I would give in; I always did. Besides, I liked the name Evangeline, I had just always thought I would give my first kid a Japanese name. Guess not. When Rukia wanted something, she got it. Whether by force or just begging ... she got it.

"I like Josiah."

"Hmm ... I like it, too. Kurosaki Josiah or Kurosaki Evangeline."

"Good. Now ... can I have some cookies?"

I rolled my eyes.

It was five months by the time the baby started kicking. When he first kicked, Rukia was adding photo's to her album; we had just gotten back from the doctor, and she had a whole new batch to add. I was going through the dresser, looking for the markers, when she suddenly squeaked happily. I turned around, surprise, and dropped the markers all over the floor. Her face was glowing happily and her eyes were sparkling as I walked over. As soon as I was within grabbing range, she took my hand in hers and placed it on her stomach.

He kicked. I could feel his tiny foot against my hand as he kicked.

"Rukia ... "

I felt a huge smile coming over my face as I crawled into the bed behind her and let her lean back against me while she shuffled through her pictures. I kept my hand on her stomach, feeling our baby kick as Rukia did. He was moving around inside her body. A new life, a baby of our own. He was beautiful in every way. And now, I could feel him.

"Hey, Rukia ... what does it feel like?"

It was different for me; I was feeling him kick from the outside, but Rukia could feel him moving around in her own body.

"It feel weird, in a nice sort of way. It'll take me a while to get used to. I like it."

We sat in silence for a few minutes, me just holding her in my arms and her just looking through pictures of the baby. I watched as she took one of the markers and began to write something in the front of the book. As my eyes scanned the letters, I reached out to stop her from turning the page.

March 3rd: I will never forget this date, because it was the day that my little angel was conceived.
April 13th: Today was the day we found out about you.
May 4th: Your heart was beating four weeks ago. I smile when I listen to it.
May 18th: I saw you moving today. Your feet and hands are so small ...
June 27th: Today I felt you move. No kicking, I'm just sure it was you.
July 10th: You kicked today.

I smiled and wrapped my arms around her. She kept a list of the things he had done.

"Love you, Rukia."

"Hmm ... I love you, too, Ichigo."

The months passed slowly. At six months, Rukia was already used to the baby kicking and her stomach was swelling. She grew larger and larger every day with their baby, and she loved it.

As I watched her, I knew that she would really love him. She sang to him and rubbed her stomach to sooth him when he kicked a lot. The doctor said that the more we talked to our baby, the more comfortable he would be with us when he was born. An unborn child could hear the voices of their parents months before they were born. Rukia sang to him and I talked to him. When I came home from work, I would whisper quietly to Rukia's stomach, sometimes until she even fell asleep.

Then, it got to the point to where Rukia couldn't even wash herself. She couldn't put her own shoes on or see her own feet. I had to help her in the shower because she couldn't move well. Her ankles were swollen and her stomach was so large she had trouble standing once she was down. The baby sat on her bladder a lot of the day, so she was in the bathroom often; It was the signs of a pregnancy coming to a close.

Any day now, our baby would be born.

It was two days before her due date that she went into labor. I rushed her to the hospital, and five hours after that, Kurosaki Josiah was born. The doctors had been surprised, as Rukia had refused any pain medication, and even the birth of seven pound, three ounce baby hadn't been enough to make her scream. What surprised them more, however, was that when I held her hand and whispered to her gently, she took comfort in my words and my touch.

Most first time mothers, they explained, threatened their husbands with death/pain if they ever got within ten feet of them again.

And, as I sat behind Rukia and watched as she fed our newborn baby, I smiled and whispered, "Next time, maybe it'll be a girl. We'll name her Evangeline, alright?"

Rukia nodded. "Ah."

Four years later, the baby book that Rukia had made was shown to our son, Josiah. He sat on my lap, twisting a strand of his bright orange hair in his fingers as he sucked on his knuckles, his bright violet eyes shining as he asked, "Mama, what that?"

His tiny fingers pointed to the book in her hands as she opened it to him.

"This is your baby book. Mommy has one for your baby sister, too."

"But she not born yet!" Josiah protested, laughing as he popped his fingers out of his mouth.

"Neither were you in these pictures.

"Ooooh ... "

His eyes were wide and his mouth was hanging open as he stared at the pictures. I smiled and kissed his head as he looked at each picture.

"Mama, does Eva look like that?"

Yeah, our baby was a girl. She was going to be born soon, the doctors said, but it was a girl. Kurosaki Evangeline.

"Yeah, she does baby," Rukia said, kissing his head.

On the front of the book, as she closed it later that night and we put our little boy to bed, the words shone in beautiful, golden colors.

"Before I was born: Kurosaki Josiah. Our Little Angel."

Never have I written something so ... well ... I dunno. I hoped you liked this. I had a ton of fun writing it.

Please Review!