A/N: Hey guys! I decided to take a little break since my birthday was on the 16th, and I celebrated it on Saturday! I hope this chapter will suffice for the time we've lost together!

Disclaimer: Alloriginal character rights go to Kubo. I guess everything else belongs to me!

Five years later.

Orihime breathed evenly, feeling it deep in her diaphragm, and exhaling from her mouth.

Each step stayed in tempo with each breath. Jogging was a way of relinquishing all worries, but it only worked to an extent. Some days, when she allowed herself to think to deep, this only led to grief.

Time was something of a wonder. It didn't move as fast as she always thought it would. There's that old saying, time flies when you're having fun. And the sadness… the sadness dwelled and hung over her for a long time.

Why was that? Why did the happiness fly by so quickly that when you finally look up, your children were leaving you behind? And why did the sadness stay when all else left? Is it because one yearned for the hurt to end? Yearned for the sadness to leave? Is that why she felt like this? Is that why she felt so sad?

Orihime came up to her house. She slowed and came to the mailbox. Of course the mailman hadn't come yet, but hoping never hurt anyone.

The woman walked up the steps tiredly. She pulled her shirt over her head when she walked into her bedroom, leaving the tight, slightly damp garment on the ground.

"Hi."

Orihime snagged a shirt from on of her drawers and put it on. When she turned, Ichigo sat on the edge of the bed, the blanket sprawled over his lap and waist, the top half of him was bare, just the she liked it yet was too embarrassed to admit.

The woman smiled. "Hi."

Ichigo scratched his orangey head. "You're up early today." She read the clock as she crossed the room and fell into his arms. 4:30 may have been early for her, but not for him. He always got up early and worked late, that's why his business thrived. If it paid the bills, who was she to complain?

Orihime sighed. She slowly ran her fingers through the tiny gray hairs on either side behind his ears. He looked the same as always, his body was just as strong, if not strong and his temper twice as sensitive. "I just have a lot on my mind, that's all."

Orihime grinned when she felt his large hands run up and down her back. "You think too much." She didn't see his face; all she heard was his deep voice.

It wasn't all bad, she thought as her husband turned her over in their bed. There were good times like this, simply, loving times, that required minimal words and soft, gentle actions. It was the times like these that reminded her that she should focus on the sadness, the past. It was the past after all.

…

But just like that saying; the past always has a way of sneaking up on you.

…

Tamotsu surprised his mother with a kiss on the cheek. "Morning, mom."

God, he was so small. And in a blink of an eye, he was huge. He had somehow manage to grow five foot, eleven, and Orihime was afraid that if she blinked again he might grow even higher. His body was completely different, more grown, more manly. His shoulders grew broader and his body was lean but bulked nonetheless. His floppy brown hair hadn't changed at all of course. He seemed to like it a wavy and wild like that.

If she could put him in a chamber that rewound time, she would.

Orihime turned from the island and handed him a hot plate of apple waffles and scrabbled eggs. "Morning!" She heard the waffle maker ping and transferred the goods onto a dish. Ichigo walked into the kitchen, pulling his tie up into a knot. Orihime pass him a plate. "Here you go."

Ichigo's quick hands gave her a pinch on her side. "Thanks."

Orihime squeaked but slowly grinned at the fact that Ichigo wasted no time that morning. It was hard to get it in lately, before it was because the kids were so small and reliant, but now they were bigger, grown and independent. It was difficult to find time because theirs businesses expanded so. Ichigo, with his new branch opening, and Orihime had a few new agendas of her own.

It didn't take long for Hitomi to smell the breakfast and come hopping down the stairs. The fourteen year old yawned, arms outstretched over her head. "Mommy," Hitomi groaned tiredly, she grabbed a plate and sat down at the kitchen table with her older brother. "Kei's having a party on Saturday, can I go?"

Orihime rinsed out the bowl of batter. "Hitomi, you know I need to see an invitation."

Hitomi grumbled but perked up when her dad planted a kiss on her forehead before heading for the living room.

Tamotsu stood and placed his empty plate in the sink. "Mom, we have our last game after school. Coming right?"

Orihime wiped her hands off in her apron. "How could I miss it?"

Hitomi jumped up too. "Yes! He's finally leaving! I can almost taste it!"

Orihime hadn't realized her hands had fisted around the apron as she followed her family into the living. College was great, for the child maybe, but for the mother, it meant her baby was leaving her forever.

When he rode his bike on his bike on his fifth birthday, he came back.

When he went to camp on his twelfth, he came back.

But this was different now, when he comes back, and he would, it won't be the same.

"Mom… mom… mommy!"

Lids blinked over frozen gray eyes. "Huh?"

Tamotsu threw his book bag over his arm, an average sized bag which oddly looked small against his large frame. "Remember, the game. It's home." Hitomi waved from the front door. You could hear Ichigo honking the car horn from outside. "Bye mom!" Tamotsu bent and gave his mother a peck on the cheek. "See ya!"

The front door closed shut.

Orihime exhaled. Everyone leaves.

…

"How did the shelter like the lemon bars?"

Michiru grinned. "They said the tenants loved them. They all just love trying out your new recipes. And they are very grateful that we send over the leftovers on Saturdays. It makes them happy."

Orihime sighed. "That's nice."

Michiru crossed off a few notes on her clipboard. She glanced up to see her boss staring down. "What's eat'n ya?"

Orihime watched Michiru grab a chair and sit. "Tamotsu is graduating in a few days. And, well… college was scary for me… and I'm scared for my Tamotsu. He's my baby…"

"Oh Hime, it's not that bad. I'm sure every parent feels this way, and then when they're gone you'll realize all the freedom you have, no more nagging, or asking, or whining about everything under the sun. I would know, my kids bug me."

"But Tamotsu isn't a whiner or a nagger or anything like that." Orihime shook her head. She knew he was going to college, he was in intelligent, first in his class, and was accepted by every school he applied for. "Maybe I'm just being over sensitive?"

Michiru nodded. She placed the clipboard on her desk but Orihime didn't look at it. "I have to go early; Tamotsu has his last baseball game." Orihime slipped on her jacket. "Make sure the Ryo gets the get well card I sent."

"Yeah." Michiru shook her head, smiling. "That girl is always sick."

As Orihime watched Tamotsu play second base, she realized there was something else bothering her, something she's been masking for awhile.

There was one out. One runner on first, another on third. The score was seven to five Kurakura High was in the lead, nine innings in. It was anyone's game.

Tamotsu crouched lower, watching, waiting for the batter to make his move. Isamu took his time, lifting his leg, winding back and releasing the ball to the batter. It was fast, but the batter was faster.

Those thoughts whizzed through her head as fast as the ball flew through the air. She knew what she had to do. She thought that maybe it she forgot, but pretended to forget, it would all go away, but it never would.

The ball was smacked high across the field. The runner on first dashed to second, but Tamotsu was on point, catching the ball and tagging the runner out. The boy wasted no time hurling the ball to first base and tagging the batter out also. A double play.

A double standard. Orihime knew what she had to do, but telling herself made it no easier. The time had come and he needed to know the truth.

The umpire stood, swiping his arms through the air. "Three outs! That's the game!"

The end was bittersweet. All of the boys were going their own ways. Sure there were promises of staying in touch, but plans always seemed to fall through.

This is why it wasn't a surprise for Orihime when she found him sitting in his room later that day.

Orihime knocked on her son's door. "You okay in there?"

"Fine, of course." His voice said. She opened the door and there he was, sitting on his bed, one leg propped up to hold a book he was reading. "Why wouldn't I be?"

He had his thick, square rimmed reading glasses on, he didn't really need them, considering his vision was near perfect, but he insisted.

Orihime crossed the room and sat on the edge of his bed. "You're leaving. You must feel something?"

Tamotsu closed his book it read Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations. "I'm going to miss you. Dad and Hitomi too." Tamotsu stared down at the book and fingered the rim. "I'm going to miss all my friends…"

Orihime always liked Tamotsu's friends, except for maybe Hiroyuki. That boy was a piece of work, viewing woman and discarding them the way he does. Orihime was just glad Tamotsu didn't use girls.

He was very good-looking young man, having a few girlfriends before but nothing serious. There was just one person Orihime had always thought of when it came to her son being with someone. A bright grin crept on Orihime's face. "You know I always liked Misoka."

Tamotsu groaned. "Mom…"

"She's a nice girl. She comes from a good family." Orihime's grin widened. "She really likes you."

"Mom…" Tamotsu slipped off his glasses and folded them down. He and Misoka talked all the time, but that was an aspect, an uncertainty Tamotsu wasn't able to control, and the boy liked control, especially when it was his'. The time just never seemed to be right for the two.

"She won't be far, remember? We're going to the same school after all."

"But of course, that's not what's bugging you."

Tamotsu stared down at the glasses in his hands. "Have you ever had a dream that felt so real? Like it happened before or… or will happen? Like a premonition or déjà vu of some sort?"

Tamotsu looked up at his mother. There was another factor he couldn't control. His difference. Yes, he loved his differences, he knew he handsome and clever, he's been told enough times in his life. And his intellect was something to behold, becoming top of the class, president of the honors society, all advanced placement classes, their undefeated baseball team captain of the season, and class valedictorian.

All of those, and more were advantages, advantages he didn't need against his family. When he looked around, he felt out of place, different. Between the golden strands of hair, hotheaded tempers, and odd taste in food, he wasn't like them. He's realized this a long time ago.

And his dreams amplified this. His dream was a big swirl of all the people he knew, staring at him with a look on their faces, like they knew something he didn't. Especially his mother's face. It was him against the world.

Except… except there was this man. His face was blurred however a smirk was evident on his lips, and he sat at the top of a hill, far off in a shadow. The man's hand extending forward, uninviting but understanding. They were different together.

"Tamotsu… people get those all the time." He felt his mother's comforting hand against his cheek. "Don't be so afraid of it." There was nothing like a mother's touch.

Tamotsu nodded. "You're right." Orihime allowed her son's warm hand remove her's from his chiseled cheek. "Besides, whatever I'm seeing may not even be true…"

"Well, I'm making you favorite dinner tonight, for the college boy!"

Now that he sniffed the air, he could tell. "Aw…" Tempura wafted through the open door. What he did know to be true, however, was that his mother made the best tempura in the world.

A few days later.

"Hitomi put the phone away!" Orihime tapped her leg so Hitomi could pay attention.

Ichigo adjusted the camera so it could record the students coming in and sitting down.

Hitomi pushed her cell phone in her pocket and sighed heavily. "When is Tamotsu coming out…?"

"Soon, honey, soon…"

After a few speeches from the members of the faculty, the vice principal, principal and the counselor, they announced that the class valedictorian would give the assembly a few words of wisdom.

"Here he is now." Ichigo, Orihime and Hitomi stood and cheered when Tamotsu walked onto stage. He wore the traditional school colored silvery gray gown and cap with the red tassel to the right. He took his spot at the podium and cleared his throat.

The stadium became quiet.

"When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us." Tamotsu looked up from his paper. "That was a quote by Alexander Graham Bell." He smiled. "Let us all take this moment and remember the times we have had here. The fun… the tears… the trials and tribulations. The good times and even the bad. All of it. But don't let it define you, don't regret."

Orihime watched her son and folded her hands on her chest. That salty prickly feeling crawled its way up to her eyes and she knew that the waterworks would start soon.

"Don't let it hold you back from the now. Right now we are here today in this stadium to celebrate the accomplishments of our class. To celebrate all we've done. We've worked hard to get here and we'll work even harder to get to the top, because that is where all of us are heading. Our accomplishments mean we have the skills to learn and success in this world. We are winners." The crowd began to clap and Tamotsu smiled triumphantly. "So don't look back and regret. You made it. Now open that door and make it your own!"

The claps began whistles and hoorays. Many stood as did Ichigo and Orihime, clapping the loudest. Ichigo recorded the whole speech and Hitomi took pictures with her phone.

He left the podium and the principle began announcing each student alphabetically for their diplomas. He finally made it to the Ks.

"Hajime Kitagawa."

Then they announced Tamotsu's best friend. "Misoka Kobayashi."

There were a few others in between, but not by much. Mutiple Kokubunjis, Komoris, kotos, Koyamas, Kubos, and Kunimitsus were in the mix.

"He's up next!" Orihime grinned widely. "Ichigo make sure you get it all!"

"Tamotsu Kurosaki."

His family cheered.

Tamotsu came back onto the stage. The principle handed him his diploma and shook his hand. Tamotsu then pushed his red tassel from the right side to the left.

…

Tamotsu shook the hands of his teachers and smiled for the cameras.

Orihime continued clicking away and silently crying. "Ichigo, get one with me!" She shoved the camera in his hand.

The man rolled his eyes and clicked the top button on the digital device.

"Tamotsu, I'm so proud of you!" She squeezed his cheeks between her hands then wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug.

"Mom…" he groaned in embarrassment and blushed. "You're hurting me…"

"I'll never be able to hold you tight enough…" she whispered.

Tamotsu's brown eyes sparkled.

"Here, get one with your sister!" Orihime pushed Hitomi next to her son. He wrapped his arm around his sister and smiled for the camera.

"Oh, Ichigo!" Orihime tugged at Ichigo's arm. "He's leaving us! My little Monkey! My sweet little Babycakes!"

Tamotsu's eyes widened at his childhood nicknames. "Mom…. We're in public…" He turned around at looked at the crowd of students around them taking pictures with their own family members. "Give me a sec."

Tamotsu ran over to the other side of the field and hugged a girl with short, sandy brown hair from behind.

"Ah! Tamotsu!" Misoka turned around and gave her best friend a big hug. "Don't scare me like that!"

Tamotsu smirked. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He grinned. "So, graduate, what do you plan on doing with your life?"

Misoka thought for a moment. "Oh, I don't know…. Maybe I'll go the some lame college with my lame friend and get a lame job so I'll have to work for the rest of my lame life."

Tamotsu chuckled. "Your life isn't that lame. Besides, you have me, remember?"

Tamotsu would have, could have said something more, but he could remember. Something of an apparition caught his eye.

His strong form stood erect with an intricately carved cane though it looked as if he hardly needed it. Wisps of gray lightly touched the sides of chocolate brown hair.

Tamotsu squinted.

He had on shades… and a triumphant air around him… almost proud.

The boy squinted harder, though he didn't need to. Once he realized he understood their was no going back. …It was the man from his memory. A man who was supposed to be a dream. He still wore the same look, the same expression, the same smirk on his face.

"….Mister…."

"Huh? Misoka turned around and looked into the crowd. "Mister who?"

A group of students walked in front of him and when the space cleared he was completely gone, as if he was never there to begin with.

Tamotsu snapped back and shook his head. "N-nothing… I thought I saw someone…"

"A teacher?"

"No… It's nothing…" He shook his head again and smiled down at his small friend. "You still coming to the party, right?"

Misoka nodded and smiled back. "Why would I miss our graduation party?!"

"Tamotsu! Tamotsu!" The man turned and saw his mother waving him over.

"I think my mom wants to get a picture of us before she burst."

Misoka laughed. They walked together back to Tamotsu's family.

Orihime took control as she placed everyone where they should be. "Okay, you stand right there… and you right here… and- Tamotsu! Put your arm around Misoka's waist, please!" Orihime huffed.

Misoka froze as she felt Tamotsu's warm hand come around her.

Orihime handed the camera to another person, asked them to take the picture and got into to place. "Everyone smile!"

Misoka gave a rigid smile and jumped when she felt Tamotsu give her left side a squeeze.

It was wonderful.

Electrical jolts and tingles went through her whole body but she didn't let it show.

"One more!" Orihime cheered and the man continued to take more pictures.

The grouped shifted from one leg to the other, gathering a better stance. As if he could move any closer, Tamotsu's body moved right up against hers, burning her down to the bone.

Finally, after an eternity, Tamotsu's body slipped away, leaving her whole left side of her body feeling numb.

Misoka's turquoise eyes slowly traveled upward until they met his. "Tamotsu-?"

"My family is going out to lunch. Wanna come?" He smiled but his face gave no indication to the feelings his enticing gave her.

But Tamotsu was a sneaky lad. Curse his poker face.

Misoka stared up at him dumbly. "N-no… m-my… m-m." Misoka didn't trust herself to speak again. So she took a deep breath and let it all tumble out. "My aunt is taking us out."

Tamotsu shrugged. "Alright. I'll see you later at my place then."

Later that day.

"God, you've gotten so big!" Tatsuki smiled at the broad young man.

"Tatsuki-san!" Tamotsu picked her up and squeezed her into a tight hug. Her feet left the ground.

When he put her back down she gasped for air. "And stronger too." Tatsuki forced her boyfriend to hand over the gift bag.

"How have your travels been, Tatsuki-san, Tanaka-san?" Tamotsu walked Tatsuki and Tanaka to the back where the rest of the people were. Tatsuki shooed his comment away. "Oh, fun. You'll see the world some day too."

In the kitchen was where you found Orihime, as usual. Yuzu was there with her of course. She carried her three year old daughter, Masaki, in her arms and dodged the twins as the six year olds ran between her legs. Not too mention the bun in the oven she had at the moment.

Orihime wasn't jealous though. She had become satisfied with what was given to her. Hitomi and Tamotsu were everything she could have asked for and more.

There was another knock at the front door and Orihime opened it. "Ururu!" She gave the sweet girl a hug. She used to be small but now she was completely developed as a young lady.

"Hello, Kurosaki-sama… I mean Orihime."

The woman smiled. "Come in! Everyone is in the backyard."

Ururu lifted her bag. "I brought a gift!"

"Oh, thank you!" Orihime looked behind her at the piling stacks of graduation presents. "I'll just put it with the rest."

Orihime walked Ururu outside where the rest of the party was.

When Tamotsu saw her he immediately blushed.

"You are so big! Pictures do you no justice." Ururu gave him a kiss on the cheek. "It was just yesterday that I was changing your diaper." Tamotsu blushed even redder. "Well, that was the past, I'm a man now."

Ururu and Orihime gave each other a look and smiled. "Sure you are."

Misoka dropped by, friends from school, and even the newlywed Karin came by. She wouldn't have missed his graduation party for the world. Yuto didn't mind.

Tamotsu wasted no time listening to Tatsuki's story about her adventure. Yuto and Ryo had somehow managed to get sucked into the story also. "It was beautiful. And the locals were nice. There was this cove, with a waterfall streaming in front; I think I might have a picture. Me and Tanaka spent the night there before heading out back to the towns. The stars are very bright at night."

Misoka stayed in the kitchen Yuzu and Hitomi, a placed where they could get away from the grill where the men retreated.

Ryo sighed. "Oh, it sounds wonderful. I want to travel, but I can't seem to bring myself to do it."

Tatsuki nodded. "It's worth it honestly." She grinned and glanced towards the grill. "Especially when you're with someone special." Orihime had never seen Tatsuki so happy that day. Tatsuki had always said she'd never trust a guy again. But Tanaka wasn't just a guy. He was the guy. The right guy for her, or who could keep up with her at least.

Tamotsu put his paper plate on the table. He would definitely travel one day, nothing would stop him from doing so. And he knew the exact special person to bring along with him….

The boy felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Tamotsu, come with me." His mother whispered from behind.

Orihime and Tamotsu walked up the stairs and opened the door to the attic. "…Mom… what are we doing up here?"

Orihime looked behind her and gave him a faint smile. "Just follow me."

They continued to walk up the steps and came to a dusty room.

Tamotsu coughed at all of the dust in the air and looked around. "Hey!" he spotted his old racecars and trucks. The telescope he had gotten at that one Christmas. His remote controlled robot. Oh! And poor Kon sat on top of a dresser in the corner.

Tamotsu walked over a wiped the piling dust off of the lion's orange fur. He remembered doing everything with the old, torn, stuffed animal, his best friend.

"Tamotsu." The man looked up. Orihime patted the old seat next to her. She held a worn box in her lap. It wasn't as dusty as the rest of the piled junk.

Tamotsu sat down and looked up at his mother. "Why are we in the attic?"

Orihime lifted the box. "Because of this…" she whispered. "Um… your father and I wanted to wait until you were just a little bit older… But I think the time to tell you is right now…"

He straightened up sensing a serious air. "What's going on?"

Tamotsu felt his mother's small hand touch his cheek and she smiled. "You look so much like your father…"

Tamotsu lowered his eyes. "No one says that to me but you…"

Orihime looked back down at the box before long. She lifted the lid and placed it on the ground. She pulled out an envelope and handed it to him.

Tamotsu read the address but it was a little faded and hard to make out. It was already torn open so Tamotsu pulled out the papers.

He read the first sentence out loud:

"Dear Tamotsu, you've gotten so big. Years go by so quickly, I can hardly keep up…" Tamotsu looked at his mother. "It's a letter."

He continued.

"I want to see you so bad, my son, but things don't always go as planned…"

Tamotsu leaned back and stared at the letter. "What is this?" he demanded.

Orihime sat quietly, her head sagging downward. "Keep going, please…"

"I love you. Sincerely, your loving father, Sousuke Aizen."

The words hung in the air for a long time. They crept into Tamotsu's mind and seemed to swirl there, implanting themselves, embedding themselves.

"Mom… Mom what is this?" Tamotsu heard a tiny sniffle and a plop. Her face was covered and he saw little individual puddles of tears by her feet.

Tamotsu pulled out another envelope and yanked the vanilla paper out.

"I can't wait to see you. How you've grown! So strong and big…"

And another.

"You got honor roll! That's my boy! I'm so proud…."

And Another.

"Off to tenth grade, are we..."

"I want to talk to you, to have a conversation..."

"My flesh and blood…"

"Tell your mother that I love her…

Sincerely… Sincerely… Sincerely… Sincerely…

"Sincerely, your loving father, Sousuke Aizen."

Tamotsu stood. "What the hell is all of this?!"

"Don't use that tone of voice with me!" Orihime stood too, her face streaked with tears. "Now sit so I can explain…"

"Who is this man…? Why is he calling me 'his son'?"

"Let me get to that…" Orihime swiped both of her hands across her cheeks slowly. "It seems so long ago… But your father and I did some very petty things to each other. It's all over now and your father and I love each other very much, we always did, but it was very complicated…

"One night I met this man… He was sweet and kind and just amazing, he was.… He was everything your father wasn't at the time. We… um… we ended up doing something very stupid and I ended up pregnant." Orihime looked Tamotsu in the eyes. "Do you understand what I'm telling you?"

"You're telling me that this man…" Tamotsu held up a letter. "Sousuke Aizen… is… is…" The man shoved his hands through his thick brown hair. "Is… my father…?"

Orihime bit her lip and reluctantly nodded.

He took a deep breath. "You're joking. This is a graduation joke! You're lying!" Tamotsu stood and pushed the letter back into the box.

"She is not."

The duo looked up and saw Ichigo standing in the doorway. "She's telling the complete truth."

"But you're my dad… Dad…" His bottom lip quivered. "…I'm your son… Right…?" Tamotsu looked to his father then his mother and back. "….Right?"

Ichigo stepped forward, calm, yet hard and intense. "And you are. I raised you. I feed you. I sat on the bench at all of your games… But I'm not your biological father."

"I don't believe you…" He took a step back and looked at the both of them.

Orihime rummaged through the box again and handed him another paper.

Tamotsu took the paper and read the top. "It's a paternity test certificate…" He shook his head and thrust it back to his mother. "I can't read this!"

Orihime pushed the paper into his hands. "You have to!"

"Orihime-"

"He has to, Ichigo! He can be upset, mad even. He can hate me! But he deserves the right to know!"

Tamotsu looked down at the paper. "…It reads that the probability of Sousuke Aizen being the biological father of Tamotsu Kurosaki is… 99.9999%..." Tamotsu looked at his parents.

Ichigo wrapped an arm around his wife and rubbed her shoulders. "Continue," he said in his deep voice.

"Therefore, it is practically proven that Sousuke Aizen is the biological father of Tamotsu Kuro….saki…" His face crumbled and his voice filled with anger. "Why did this happen? Why did you tell me! Why!"

Ichigo clenched his jaw. "Don't you dare yell at your mother!"

"Can I even call her that?"

Orihime gasped and before she knew it, her hand was slapping him across the face.

He held his stinging cheek in shame. His words were completely out of hand. "… I'm sorry…"

Orihime grabbed both of his hands and guided him back down to their seats. "Tamotsu… I love you, I do. I want you to understand that because I love you, I couldn't keep this from you."

His head sagged and his hair became a thick dark brown veil. "I was a mistake, wasn't I? …I was never supposed to happen..."

"You can't think like that!" She squeezed his hands tighter so he could look up at her. "Yes! Me and your father did a lot of stupid shit and made a lot of mistakes… But you were never one of them." He finally looked up.

"You are my greatest gift… I don't even deserve you… You're my son and I can't stress to you how much joy you bring me." She pushed a brown lock away from his face. "I don't think… I don't think I would have made it if it weren't for you…"

Tamotsu closed his eyes and digested everything he was told… It all suddenly made sense. So many things were suppressed in his memories came spilling out.

Why… why hadn't he realized before? He was a child, how could he have known. But he did, he did know and now he couldn't un-know, and it was always in his nature to find out more.

"…I want to meet him."

Ichigo stepped forward with his hands in his pockets. "Is that what you think is best?"

Tamotsu nodded up at his father. "I want to meet him… but he'll never replace you…" He stood and encircled his arms around his father. Ichigo embraced him back.

…

Tamotsu sat inside the wheel, he could hardly fit with his huge shoulders and arms so instead he let his legs sprawl out and leaned his head on the edge.

What the hell? ...What the hell?! Everything… was everything a lie? No, everything was the truth. His dreams, the bully, the signs, his mother…

"You're not like him…"

"I knew I'd find you here." A voice interrupted his thoughts. "You know they're all looking for you?"

Tamotsu opened one eye and saw Misoka walking up to him. She didn't say anything but sat on top of the wheel, pretzel-style, and sighed. "Just like old days…" she whispered.

Tamotsu chuckled, pulling at her heart strings. "Yeah."

Misoka bent over the edge of the wheel and let her head hang down. "Yeah and then you promised to never make me cry again."

Tamotsu's smile faded. "Yeah… but I did."

Misoka's turquoise eyes rolled. "Oh Tamotsu, don't be so dramatic. People cry sometimes."

The smile was completely gone from his lips and his chocolate eyes flashed up to meet turquoise. "Yeah."

Misoka blushed and nodded.

Tamotsu grabbed her arm and yanked her down beside him. She stumbled over the wheel and fell with a gruff. She winced as her head hit the woodchips. "Ow."

Tamotsu helped her scramble up and sit back against the monster wheel. "Sorry," was all she heard in the night.

The night was quiet; quiet enough with the exception of croons and murmurs from unidentifiable creatures.

Misoka glanced over at her friend. God, she knew she wasn't the prettiest girl. She knew if people saw them two together they'd wonder why he would fall for a girl like her. Which might have been exactly why they weren't together now.

"Did you keep your promise?"

Tamotsu blinked. "What?"

When he looked over, Misoka was staring back at him, leaning towards him. "I kept my promise, did you keep yours?"

Tamotsu wasn't sure what she meant at first, but her words soon came to light. She was speaking of the promise they made to each other, in her room that day, that day when they vowed to save themselves for each other.

Tamotsu leaned in too, shaking his head defensively. "Those girls meant nothing… they were just a distraction…"

Misoka glared down at her converses. Hana, Meko, and Gina... All the same girls, all a flash in the pan. All a stab in the heart… "…Did you keep your promise?" she repeated once more.

Tamotsu waited for a moment. He could crack any case, solve any problem, and write any essay. He could find an answer, but not with Misoka. She always kept him guessing, even as a child he could never figure her out completely. Which was why he needed her. Which was why he wanted to experience the greatest mystery of all with her. Tamotsu nodded. "Yes."

That night together they unravel the unknown, right there on the woodchips and dirt of the preschool playground. As he thought about the letters and secrecy, the lying and deceit, Tamotsu realized there was one more door to unlock.

He was going to see him, he knew this. But he had to ask, he had so many questions. He needed to. He needed to know this man. His father. And why he gave up on him so easily.

Sorry, I meant to update on Sunday but my internet decided to be a giant pain in my you-know-what. We have about one chapter left, maybe two, I haven't decided yet.

So, I have to ask, do you think Tamotsu should visit his father? Is it a good idea on his behalf? Guys as much as you need to read, I need to know! How did you feel about this chapter?

I hope to hear from you all!

Rocka.