Vertigo

AN: Well, this story is finally ending. I am happy with how it turned out, so no asking for more. LOL. But please do read and enjoy!

"Hey Ichigo."

"Yeah?" He took his ear phones out and looked at her.

"I was thinking about the other day. When you felt bad for the prostitutes, and thought it was sad for them to have no other choices. But what if someone had no choice but to steal? What would you make of that?"

"You and Renji had a hard time in Hanging Dog didn't you?" He asked calmly, already knowing the answer.

"Yes." Rukia answered simply.

"You do realize that the fact you've been through hell makes me love you more right?" Ichigo demanded softly. She chuckled.

"I was aware of that to a point. I'm just hoping I don't seem like damaged goods." Rukia laughed nervously.

"Don't joke about that." Ichigo warned. "Don't joke that you might consider yourself not good enough. I love you, and that's final."

"Only you would say something like that." She pointed out slyly.

"Damn straight!" He growled, kissing her for emphasis, holding her face to keep her still. He had always been gentle in their encounters before, but he wanted to kiss her until she almost couldn't breathe. And as with most everything he put his mind to, he succeeded.

Rukia rested her forehead against his collarbone, stunned from his assault/kiss, and thought to herself.

Wherever this thing between her and Ichigo went, it felt right.

11 YEARS LATER

"Nooooooo! I don't wanna sit in the car seat! I'm a big boy!"

"Haruhi Mori Kurosaki, you get in there right now."

"Okay, fine." Haruhi relented, knowing that arguing with his mother was no use. Ichigo laughed from the driver's seat. He'd been there before.

"Atta boy. Now let's hit the road." Rukia maneuvered into the seat beside her husband, a task that would have been much easier if she wasn't 8 months pregnant.

"I still can't believe you're letting me take our son to Sanrio Puroland." Rukia sighed happily.

Ichigo rolled his eyes, but smiled. Sanrio Purland had once been intended as one of the stops on that vacation so long ago. It had a Hello Kitty theme.

"Well I wanted to make him happy. And it's not my fault his mom got him hooked on a bunch of girly crap."

"Daddy! Don't say crap!" Chided his two year old from the back seat.

"Yeah Ichigo."

"Shut up and eat your croutons."

Rukia had taken to eating croutons during her second pregnancy. She ate them on salads as they were intended to be eaten, in handfuls, in bowls of milk for breakfast….. Christ it drove him crazy. It made her smell like garlic. Not that he would ever tell her that. He had a sense of self preservation after all.

"Shut up! It's not my fault that your daughter likes 'em, okay!" Rukia huffed softly and crossed her arms over her huge belly. Their eyes met and they grinned.

His daughter. They had a son, and now they had a daughter. Ichigo remembered when Rukia had had Haruhi. She had gone into labor in her 5th month, and since his little baby heart rate was dropping they had had to induce her early. It had been terrifying.

They had expected to see him hooked up to tubes when the saw him, but the nurse explained that he was proving troublesome to hook up. He weighed just a little over four pounds, and he was struggling so much against the poor nurse trying to help him that she was just about in tears. Rukia took him and nursed him, and that was that. He had inherited his parent's stubborness, and he would not willingly spend any time being fed with tubes, early birthday be damned.

He had also inherited a great deal of spiritual power. Isshin had left the Soul Society for his family, but the soul society found them anyways. Ichigo and Rukia lived in Karakura still with full duties as soul reapers. There was no way the two hot heads could live a life without battles. Isshin had Haruhi a lot while they patrolled, but he and his grandson adored each other. Life was pretty damn good at the moment.

The drive didn't take too long, and they made their way around the park. Haruhi was enjoying himself immensely, and they were thankful he couldn't get too far with his stubby legs. He begged to go to the gift shop.

"Alright, but I'm only buying you one souvenir." Ichigo warned gently.

"M'kay Dad!"

"Don't punch anyone Ichigo." Rukia murmured softly.

"So long as they keep their eyes on your face and not lower," He replied dangerously. She laughed and followed their toddler in as he begun darting around the store, frantically looking.

"Look at all the snow globes mama!"

"Just don't show them to your Aunt Karin." Ichigo laughed.

"Can I get this?" Haruhi held up a coloring book and made big puppy eyes.

"Yup." Ichigo affirmed. Stupid Ishida loved telling him about his Quincy son and how smart and shit he was. And yet every time he saw him he was just hiding behind Orihime's skirt.

At least he could show that Quincy bastard the coloring book once Haruhi was finished with it. His son was two and he colored in the lines much better than Ishida's kid did. Not that he wanted to be competitive or anything.

"Do you think Chappy misses us?" Asked Haruhi worriedly.

"Your Uncle Chad is taking very good care of him." Rukia assured.

Chappy was the rabbit they had at home. It was spunky and small, and even to Ichigo, very cute. Chad was left to watch him, partly because he was good with animals, and partly because Tatsuki was disturbingly active for someone who was pregnant with twins. Chad had taken to worrying sick over her, and Ichigo was certain that if his friend didn't stop nagging her, his children would come into the world without a father, and with a mother facing murder charges. Thus why they decided to distract him with a baby animal.

Tatsuki and Chad already had a daughter, who had inherited her mother's small frame and her dad's looks. She had been in speech therapy for two years before they realized that the babble she employed was a mixture of Japanese and Spanish. They told everyone that would listen that there child was bilingual.

Haruhi pooped out on the car ride home, as did his mother. Pregnancy was no easy feat. Ichigo could see his son in the backseat sleeping, the coloring book clutched in his tiny fist, and his black hair falling into his face. Rukia refused to cut his curly hair, and he feared it would grow to rival Renji's mob. Rukia distacted him form this thought as she began to mumble cutely in her sleep.

Maybe it was from all the rides they had just been on, but he was feeling dizzy. His head felt joyously light, and his body felt like it was floating. But he knew it wasn't from the Ferris wheel he had just been on.

He knows the light headedness was from pure joy. Glancing at the other passengers in the car, from his son to his wife and unborn daughter, Ichigo smiled and his throat closed.

He had about a million and one reasons to feel dizzy. Rukia had turned his life upside down and sideways. She made everything backwards, and yet she miraculously made everything make sense.

She was his vertigo.

AN: I finished it. Oh my god I finished it. *Squee!*