A/N: Feeling much better this week, thank God! Guys, it really pays off to take a few days for yourself! Remember, you comes first!
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, for the hundredth time!
She didn't know where it came from. But when it came, Orihime gritted her teeth and breathed deeply through the pain. And as quickly it came, it was gone and she exhaled.
"Ichigo…" Orihime's heart jumped through her chest, the car was driving down the busy street, Tamotsu was crying uncontrollably.
"Give me a second, Orihime." He texted on his phone quickly, pressing down on the keys with extreme pressure.
Orihime placed Tamotsu on her lap and rubbed his back soothingly. "Ichigo…"
"Just… just let me think!" he shouted and lifted the phone to his ear. Orihime covered Tamotsu's ears with her hands as Ichigo began to curse into the phone.
The harsh words rung in her ears after he chewed and spat out the person receiving the message. "…Ichigo! Please stop!" She finally yelled.
The man finally looked up from his phone and at his wife.
Orihime shook her head and pushed back the salty tears that teased the rim of her eyes. "How could you…" she whispered.
He shifted in his seat to face her. "We weren't doing anything… It's not what you think, it was strictly business…" Orihime looked out the window and continued to rub Tamotsu's back. Ichigo huffed and texted someone back on his phone. "…I'm taking you to Isshin's. I can't have them crowding you at our house."
Orihime wiped the tears off of the bottom of Tamotsu's chin. "It's going to be alright, Monkey."
Tamotsu clung to her shirt and looked up at her. "Those were bad men mommy."
"I know…"
It took them an hour of silence before the driver arrived at Ichigo's old home. The same green roof, trimmed bushes, and old, blue Kurosaki Clinic sign.
Isshin greeted them at the door.
"Orihime! My sweet!" Isshin looked down at her belly. "Your tummy is getting bigger!"
Ichigo carried in a sleeping Tamotsu and placed him in the couch. "Dad, this isn't a social visit."
Isshin stared at his frantic son as he tapped on his phone. "What kind of visit is this then…"
"They need to stay awhile."
"They…?" Orihime walk up to Ichigo. "You aren't staying…?"
"I need to sort this all out." He kissed her forehead and glanced back down at his phone. "When I get back, I'll explain it all to you."
Orihime stared up at him. "You… you can't keep doing this to us."
She just couldn't stand the secrets and the lies anymore…
He finally looked up from his phone as if he heard her thoughts. "I didn't cheat, Orihime. Yes, I was funding her and everything else… But I didn't sleep with her…" Ichigo could just see it in her eyes that she didn't believe him, but he needed to get back at the office. "I have to go."
He walked past her and opened the front door.
"Ichigo… wait."
He turned around.
"Orihime. When I first met you, I knew I wanted to protect you.
Orihime lifted her hand and twisted off her engagement ring and placed it on the coffee table beside her, the wedding band soon followed.
I knew that I wanted to keep you safe and to love you…."
Ichigo's eyes followed her every move. "What are you doing…?"
"I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you, no matter what."
She took a deep breath. "Until you get your act together… I can't wear this…"
Ichigo walked back up to her and grabbed her hand. "But-"
Orihime pushed the rings into his palm. "I suggest you leave now…"
"Your beauty, heart, and mind inspire me to be the best person I can be."
"I can't leave when you…" He shoved his hand at her. "Here put them back on!"
Orihime shook her head and he soon came to realize that she was serious.
"I promise to love you for eternity,"
The man looked down at the gold bands in his hands. "I'll make it up to you… I promise."
"Respecting you, honoring you,"
Orihime took a another deep breath and looked at the floor, away from his face. "Goodbye Ichigo."
"Orihime..." His phone rang again. "I have to go, but when I come back, I'll make all of this up to you."
"Being faithful to you, and sharing my life with you."
He closed the door behind him.
"This is my solemn vow."
One week later.
Tamotsu didn't want to disturb her. He just watched.
...She was crying again… she did that a lot lately.
...She never left the room. And if she did, it was only to go potty or to get more tissues.
And no one answered the phone anymore. Tamotsu wondered why… Every time the phone would ring, no one would pick it up. Tamotsu tried to once, but grandpa stopped him before his hand even hit the base.
He hated seeing his mommy cry. And when he was alone, he would hug Kon and cry for him too. Just like the way mommy was crying for him now.
The child felt a shadow hover over him.
"…It would be best if you didn't bother her at the moment, Tamotsu." Isshin suddenly stood next to him closely. He had his hands in his pockets and he was looking at his mother through the door. The child could tell he was serious by the tone of his voice.
Tamotsu looked on. She had her back turned and she was rubbing her stomach, whispering to it… Maybe she had a stomach ache? Mommy always kissed his stomach when he had a belly ache.
"The baby is giving her complications." Isshin looked down at him. "Do you understand?"
There goes that word baby again. And what does com… complakshins mean?
Tamotsu nodded slowly. He wasn't exactly sure.
"Good. Now, would you like to go to the clinic with me?"
Tamotsu smiled. He knew what the word 'clinic' meant. It was where grandpa went to work. It was fun there. It was cold and you weren't allowed to touch everything… but it was still fun.
He took the old man's hand and followed him out the door.
…
Orihime's eyes felt sore from the numerous wipes and rubs. She didn't dare look at herself in the mirror for she knew that it would bring nothing but embarrassment and shame.
She had cried her tears and wallowed in it. And now it was time to get up, dust off, and keep it moving.
… But does she want to keep moving without Ichigo?
Orihime shook her head and walked down the stairs.
"…Tamotsu! …Isshin!" Orihime shouted for the two but it seemed like they weren't in.
She shrugged her shoulders. Wherever they were, they weren't far.
And now… now Orihime was starving. She didn't want to eat at all during her wallowing. She felt bad because she had two people, or bellies to think about, not just her own.
Orihime slowly hummed and rubbed her stomach while she searched through the refrigerator. She found a small bag of M&Ms and poured them in a bowl. She was in the mood for chocolate.
Then the phone rang.
Orihime closed the refrigerator door and walked to the phone.
All week… all week he had been calling. Orihime picked up the phone and exhaled. "Please, Ichigo. Stop calling, I just-"
"This isn't Ichigo!" An all too familiar voice shouted.
"Tatsuki?"
"No, Orihime. It's the Easter bunny."
Orihime wrinkled her nose at her choice of words. "You don't have to be so snippy with me."
Tatsuki was in the supermarket, venting out her frustrations on the merchandise. "Of course I'm snippy. I've tried every phone number to try to get to you. Ichigo isn't picking up. You weren't picking up at the house. I was told that BabyCakes wasn't operating anymore-"
Orihime flinched. "I actually meant to tell you about that…" How could she have forgotten to tell her best friend…? Oh yeah, because she was preoccupied with everything else under the sun.
"It's all his fault isn't it? I'll kill him! I'll, I'll-"
"Tatsuki, we just have to wait it out…" Orihime closed her eyes patiently as her best friend yelled into the phone.
"There's no waiting this out! He betrayed you, again!" Orihime could hear her heavy stomps in the background. "I'm coming down there."
"Tatsuki, there really isn't any need." Orihime crossed Isshin's living room and sat on the couch. She held her ever growing belly and groaned.
"I want to bust his ass face to face, not over a phone." Tatsuki slammed a can of beans into her cart and a woman on the other side of the aisle gave her a funny look. "Orihime, I don't know how you do this!"
"Tatsuki…"
"I know, I know. No more cursing. But I can't help it! Why do I have to hear about this in a slimy magazine that only talks about the drama going on in celebrities' lives?" Tatsuki stuck her tongue out at the woman when her back was turned.
"Tatsuki…" Orihime groaned again. Being nineteen weeks was really taking a toll on her.
"How can he constantly screw up like this?!"
Orihime reached for the tiny bowl of M&Ms she placed on the coffee table. She set the bowl on her rounding belly and popped a red one in her mouth. "We all just need to take a break." She rubbed her tongue over the chocolate covered teeth to be sure she got every bit.
"A break? A divorce is more like it."
Orihime touched the finger on her left hand where her rings used to be.
After a moment of complete silence she responded. "I am not divorcing Ichigo."
"Think about it, Orihime. How many times, how many years did he cheat?"
Orihime chewed the inside of her cheek. She really didn't want to talk about any of this. "...He cheated for about three..."
"And how old is Tamotsu?"
"He's four…"
"So do you really think that out of the seven years you've been together that he had ever broken it off? Remember that I saw them together the day that he supposedly said that he broke up with her. I remember that kiss. He didn't look so heartbroken."
Orihime could just imagine the disapproving look on her stern face.
"Tatsuki… I don't know if I should take this advice…" Orihime pulled her hair behind her. "I just need some time to think."
"Okay, but if you need me, I'm just a phone call away. Are you sure you don't want me to come down?"
Orihime caressed her belly again. "I'm sure…" She slid a few more chocolate covered candies in her mouth.
"Before I go, how's the baby?" Tatsuki piled all of her items onto the conveyor belt at the check-out line and realized that she didn't get anything that she wanted. "Canned chicken…?" she whispered to herself in confusion.
"The baby is… fine. The baby is fine. The baby finally kicked the other day."
"I thought you found out the sex? What about names?"
Orihime smiled, but it as weak, just like the rest of her. "The baby doesn't have a name yet."
Tatsuki was silent for a moment. "…Orihime, that rat-bastard doesn't deserve you."
Orihime shifted the phone to the other ear and sighed. "Tatsuki, I have to go."
"Alright, take care. But remember, I'm always a phone call away."
"Take care."
A few days later.
Tamotsu looked up from his book and watched the peculiar grownups.
"I'll be monitoring your intake because I notice you haven't been eating as much protein." Isshin lifted his brow. "But I noticed that my stash of chocolate is all gone."
They were in one of Isshin's clinic rooms and he had been giving her daily checkups ever since they came.
"Oh…" Orihime blushed. "You noticed."
Tamotsu flipped the page in his book. Apparently, if you gave a mouse a cookie, he would want a glass of milk to go with it… Tamotsu considered the ludicrous notion. A mouse doesn't eat cookies or drink milk, he thought. And even if he did, he wouldn't want a straw or a napkin to go with it…
"It's my job to notice." Isshin sighed. "I don't want you getting sick. And I know that there's a lot of outside stress happening at the moment. But I don't want your bad choices today to affect what happens to my grandchild tomorrow."
The child's ear shot up. Sick…? Did he say that mommy was sick…? Tamotsu shook his head. Mommy wasn't sick…
Orihime nodded and watched Isshin finish washing his hands. "I understand."
Her father-in-law looked down at his clipboard. "Are you having any unusual pains?"
Orihime chewed on her bottom lip. "Describe unusual…"
"Are feeling pain in the abdominal area? Are you having back pains?"
Orihime thought quickly about the brief cramps she's been having. They came and left really fast so it didn't seem like a problem. "Um… the occasional back pain…"
Isshin lifted a brow. "That all?" he asked.
Orihime nodded.
"So… Do you want to know?" Isshin walked over and sat down next to her on the cool, white bed.
"Do I want to know what?"
Maybe he should find a mouse, give him a cookie, and see if the rodent would ask him for milk…. Maybe that mouse could make his mommy feel better again. Or better yet, The child would give his mommy a cookie himself! Tamotsu nodded. Yes, that was the plan!
"The gender of the baby."
Orihime froze. She originally planned to find out the gender with Ichigo, but it seemed that lately all their plans have been shot to hell.
"Do you want to know?"
Tamotsu closed his book, now completely uninterested. Maybe… maybe it was the 'baby'. Maybe it was the 'baby' making her sick…
Isshin took her hand and smiled. "Orihime… you're having a girl."
A day later.
Takashi was doe-eyed and scared as he looked around the large, spacious room.
Aizen smiled warmly. "Good evening Takashi. Have a seat please."
Gin was standing beside the man, smiling and watching the boy stumble into his seat.
Takashi sat in the one chair facing Aizen's desk. It was pretty comfortable so he relaxed a little.
Aizen took joy in the look on the young man's content expression. "How have you been, my friend?"
Suddenly, a woman with dark, purplish hair in pigtails, and a short with dress, walked before him with a tray. It had two glasses and a bottle of champagne. "…Well, now that ya mentioned it, I'm do'n great. Liv'n it up, ya know."
Aizen inclined in his grand chair and watched his receptionist, Cirucci, pour the champagne into the glasses. "You have the money now to do so, I hope."
There was silence in the room with the exception of Cirucci's heels clicking out of the door with the tray in her hand.
Takashi gulped. "…Yeah. I've been tak'n other jobs on tha side 'n all… Sir." He didn't know why he added the last part, but it seemed appropriate.
"Taking the initiative." Aizen stood and smiled. "Good man." He walked around the large desk and handed Takashi one of the glasses.
Takashi didn't look at the commanding man as he guzzled the champagne down. It was bubbly and Takashi almost snorted the liquid out of his nose from the bitterness.
"Takashi, I called you here on business… We still have a deal."
Takashi leaned forward and placed the empty glass on the desk. "Yeah… uh, yeah. We do." He was beginning to break a sweat.
"You sold those pictures?" his chocolate voice purred.
Gin grew goose bumps in anticipation.
"Well, uh, yeah." Takashi's eyes darted around the room, all the while avoiding Aizen's intense gaze. "Ya weren't go'n ta pay me. I took matters inta my own hands…" The man scratched his suddenly itchy nose. "Tak'n the a-an-initiative, just like ya said."
Aizen took his time going back to his chair which was all the time in the world. "I hired you. I wanted you to get those pictures for me."
"Yeah but… I want money."
Aizen pressed a button on his desk. Then he opened a drawer in his desk. "Fine." When his hand emerged from out of the desk, it held two wads of stacks bills. "Here's your money."
He tossed the money and it landed in front of Takashi. The money was crisp and clean. Fresh and green, just how he liked it.
Takashi reached out to grab it but Aizen said "Uh-uh." Aizen frowned. "You can have that money… and more but only if you get me my pictures back."
Takashi's hand was in mid-pause, hovering over the money. "I-I… I don't think I can, sir."
Aizen knitted his fingers together and rested his chin against them. "How many pictures were there again?"
Sweat began to gather around his forehead in tiny droplets. "I…I never said, sir."
His thick lashes dropped dangerously low that all you could see was the chocolaty sheen that his glistening eyes produced. "Well enlighten me anyway."
Takashi gulped. "Well… 'bout fifteen… eighteen, sir…" His lip trembled and he finally felt the sweat reach his neck and roll down his back where the cool air from the room hit him and gave off a cold burn.
Gin couldn't stop the smile from spreading on his pale face.
Aizen's eyes lit up. "Perfect…" The word hummed in the deep vibration of his voice. "We're going to play a little game… For every photo sold… We'll dismember one of your fingers." Takashi's eyes grew large. "And when you have no more of those, we'll continue to your toes… Then, well, what other limbs cold we possibly get rid of?"
Without warning, two men stood behind Takashi's chair. "No… no!" He finally screamed after coming to grips with what was going to happen to him. Desperately and foolishly, Takashi jumped up from his chair and tried for the large white door, the only logical exit from the room, but was immediately caught by the two brawny mean. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to sell the photos! I just! I-"
Aizen swiveled in his chair and faced the ceiling to floor, glass windows. "On second thought" From Takashi's view, you could only see the man's hand fly up in a standstill gesture. "…That would be too cruel."
Takashi exhaled. "Thank y-"
"Kill him."
Takashi shook his head in disbelief. "N-no!" He looked at the silver haired man in the corner. "Please!"
Aizen continued to stare out the window, a smile playing on his smooth lips.
The sounds of Takashi's screams ceased as the doors closed behind him.
Gin took a step or two forward. "Pretty ruthless there Aizen-sama…"
Aizen inhaled. "I was going to sell them anyway. He simply took the joy out of my plan." He sighed. "It can't be helped."
Gin gave him a sideways glance and frowned. "Were you going to kill him anyway too?"
Aizen smirk.
Gin clucked his teeth and shook his head. "You're one bad, bad boy…"
…
Tamotsu peeked into the room and stared at the pregnant woman.
…She was only awake a second ago… but Tamotsu knew. Tamotsu knew it was that thing they called a 'baby' that was destroying everything around him.
The child walked over to the sleeping woman and continued to stare.
Orihime groaned and pushed her arm up her belly more.
It was bigger than Tamotsu remembered…. Not too big but big enough to notice a difference.
He could see what his mother called a belly button straining against the shirt.
The boy cocked his head to the side in wonder.
He remembered when daddy would touch her belly. Sometimes before he left for work he would get down on his knees and kiss her belly repeatedly. He'd speak to it like her belly could hear him.
Tamotsu saw the opportunity to reach out and touch the thing that was making everyone act differently.
"…Baby… Can you hear me?" Tamotsu stepped closer and his hand slid down her stomach. "If you can, then I have so much to tell you…"
The boy gasped and stumbled back when he felt a jolt. Something was inside of his mommy!
Is that why everyone was touching her belly?
Tamotsu walked forward, and this time, placed both hands on her belly.
"Baby? Did you know? Did you know that you were hurting mommy?" Tamotsu's bottom lip wobbled. "Did you know that she was sick? And you are making it worse?"
Tears fell down his soft cheeks and plopped onto the carpeted floor. "I want to keep mommy safe. I want to protect her! But how can I protect the both of you? How can I protect you when you make her sick?"
Tamotsu's small hands grabbed wards of her shirt and fisted around it. "Why do you do this? Why are you doing this to mommy? I love her. And she loves you… Why do you do this?"
Orihime opened her eyes and sat up quickly. She grabbed his shoulders and shook him gingerly, but enough to let him know that she was upset. "Tamotsu! What are you doing?" She finally took in his tear stained face and the horrified look in his eyes. "…Monkey, what's wrong?"
Tamotsu rubbed at his eyes but he still continued to cry. "I love you mommy! I won't let you stay sick!"
Orihime scooped him up and placed him on the sofa next to her. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him unruly hair. "Who told you I was sick?"
"Grandpa… He, he told me not to bother you." His body hiccupped and tears made their way down his cheeks. "And, and, and that you were sick and, and, and you need your rest!"
Orihime took a deep breath. Though Tamotsu was very bright, she had to be patient and delicate with situations such as this.
"I feel fine and I'm not sick. Okay?"
Tamotsu frowned. "I heard him say that you were sick and that the baby was giving you com-compli-k-shans."
Orihime smiled. "Those complications mean nothing. Don't worry about it. I'm fine and the baby is fine." Orihime pushed the tears away on his face.
"But mommy! There's something wrong with your belly."
Orihime looked down. "What do you mean?"
"I felt something…"
Orihime took his tiny hand and placed it on her belly. It was a few moments before she kicked again.
Tamotsu gasped and squealed in a mixture of delight and horror.
"That's the baby, Monkey." Tamotsu looked up at his mother. "That's the baby telling you she loves you."
"She..?" Tamotsu watched her enlarged stomach in wonder. "The baby loves me?"
Orihime nodded. "Mhmm. And the baby loves me and daddy and Grandpa and everyone else."
Tamotsu smiled his dazzling smile. "I love the baby too."
Orihime hugged him and squeezed tight. "And I love you."
Tamotsu sighed into her grip. "And you love daddy too?"
Orihime's grip on him loosened for a second. "I love daddy all the time."
"But you two argue all the time." He craned his neck up to look at his mother.
Orihime nodded. "That's true, Monkey. Sometimes we do argue, but that doesn't make me love him any less…"
…
"More pictures are coming out. People are telling magazines that they've seen you two places. This publicity isn't the good kind." Ishida placed a pile of magazines on the table. "This isn't the kind of light we want to shed on our company."
Ichigo crossed his arms. "Ishida, you think I don't know that?"
"You sure didn't care to care when you were doing it!" Ishida took a deep breath. "So we've already set up cleaners to try convincing the papers to try not to broadcast your indiscretions anymore than they already have. Also, there's a banquet coming up in about three months or so. The Kidō Corporation basically wants to thank everyone for their hard work and appreciation. We have ties with them so it would be impolite if we didn't go. I want you to go to represent us. You'll go with Orihime, as the happily married couple you are. Do you get that?"
Ichigo opened his mouth to give a retort but Lisa knocked on his office door.
"Mr. Kurosaki."
Ishida stood up straighter and adjusted his glasses.
"What is it now, Lisa?" Ichigo asked.
"I have someone on hold."
Ichigo stood up quickly. "Is it Orihime?"
"No… It's Sousuke Aizen. He says he has a message for you…"
I wrote that scene with Tamotsu and the baby because I wanted to give you guys a peek at what Tamotsu was feeling (I absolutely love writing scenes from Tamotsu's POV). I didn't want him to blame the baby or resent it, but to let the baby in on what he's feeling. I thought it was important for the kids to have that connection.
Then there was the scene where Orihime took off her wedding rings. I originally planned for that to happen in SD, but it didn't really fit the atmosphere yet. And the words that were italicized were the vows that Ichigo said to Orihime on their wedding day in my story Vows.
Rocka.
P.S. Also, does anyone remember that tape of Kensei and Ichigo that Aizen supposedly said he'd use as blackmail? Hmm…