Chapter 3: When the Hour Strikes
Somewhere in Hueco Mundo...
"Fukutaichou! Behind you!" His third seat cried out before she parried left against an attack from an adjucha.
Heeding her warning, Ichigo turned around and found himself facing a swarm of Gillian preparing to launch a barrage of cero at him. He merely scoffed at their underhanded strategy, and in a blink of an eye, he plunged headlong at the hollows, slashing them all into pieces until a mountain of their remains were at his feet. Then, seeing his squad members struggle against the ever-growing army of over half a thousand hollows, he quickly doubled back to assist them.
"Fukutaichou, there's too many of them!" Ichigo heard his fifth seat growl through gritted teeth, as he stabbed another Adjucha right in the chest before positioning himself back-to-back against the young vice-captain. "Should we fall back?"
Ichigo shook his head.
"No. So long as we can wield our zanpakatou, we can still fight." He stated confidently before he shunpoed away, slaying a dozen Menos in the process.
With each swing of his blade, wave after wave of their enemy fell to their knees around them. Invigorated by his example, his division members began to strike back, and in no time at all, their foes were cut down by more than half their numbers.
"Come on, everyone. We're not far from Rondo's lair!" Ichigo shouted encouragingly, racing onwards.
"Hai!" They shouted in unison, following closely behind him..
Ichigo smirked.
'The faster we finish this, the sooner we can get home.'
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It was a fact that not a lot of things could break the stoic expression on Kuchiki Byakuya's face, but the sight of his sister looking so detached and emotionless nearly shattered it to pieces when he came to visit her days after Ichigo's departure.
She was sitting by her window, when he had come to see her. Simply sitting, as if she was just leisurely watching the petals of the peach blossoms outside her home dance towards the earth. If it weren't for the distracted gaze on her face, he would've been convinced that she was not feeling the least bit melancholic. But that wasn't the case. The dullness of her eyes let on more than she wanted to reveal.
He frowned.
He had heard from Ukitake that she had become quite withdrawn, a stark contrast to her usual liveliness, which worried her captain because he had never seen her this way before. Well, at least not since she had met the Ichigo. Her meeting with Kurosaki Ichigo had only brought Rukia two things - happiness and mild annoyance. To see that his absence was causing her to become the distant person that she was before made Byakuya's supposedly stone-cold heart break.
'Ichigo better return soon...or else,' he thought as he conceived of over ten different ways to make his brother-in-law pay for not coming home sooner. For a brief moment, he mentally clucked his tongue disapprovingly at himself for coming up with such a small number of punishments for his sister's husband. Only ten? Che. He was surely becoming too soft.
"Nii-sama?"
Snapping out of his thoughts, he realized that Rukia had finally noticed his presence on her porch.
"Nii-sama, what brings you here?" She asked, as she pushed herself up from her seat by the window to bow at the presence of her brother. "I heard that you have been busy lately. You didn't have to come and visit me."
Byakuya narrowed his eyes at his younger sister for a moment. Under his gaze, her supposedly cheery disposition almost faltered. Almost. Like a true Kuchiki, she held her mask firmly in place. "I wanted to see how you were doing."
"I'm fine. Thank you, nii-sama." She paused to grace him with an appreciative smile. "Ah. While you're here, would you like some tea and biscuits? Or perhaps some watermelon? We have plenty of food now that Ichigo's not around." She laughed. "I never realized how much he ate until now."
Byakuya shook his head.
"No. It won't be necessary. I simply stopped by to see if you were in good health...and to make a suggestion."
"What is it?"
"Please consider staying at the Kuchiki mansion until your husband returns. In your condition, it would be beneficial to have an attendee around to tend to your every need."
Rukia's eyes widened in surprise before she blushed, then started to wave her hands in front of her.
"That's a really kind of you, brother, but I can't possibly burden you. Thank you. I'll be okay. Please don't worry about me." She quickly responded in her flustered state.
Byakuya sighed inwardly. Although he was most dissatisfied by her answer, he decided not to push it.
"Very well. However, if you ever need anything, please do not hesitate to contact me."
"I will."
"Then, I will take my leave now. But before I go, just one more thing."
"Yes?"
"It's not good for your health nor for that of your child to worry so needlessly. That man has never failed to return to your side when you need him most. Please trust that he will not fail this time either."
With that said, he then excused himself by taking a step down from the front steps of the porch, and then shunpoing away, leaving a gust of sakura petals behind him before his sister could even react to what he said.
It took awhile for his words to sink in, but once it did the petite shinigami could feel the heavy feeling in her heart lift. And for the first time in days, she let out a true smile.
"Arigatou, Nii-sama."
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Back in Hueco Mundo, days later...
"Well I see that you finally caught up. Thought you would have been here already since you're always bragging about your agility."
Ichigo glared at his red-headed companion.
"Well at least I'm not the one leaning against his zanpakatou looking like something just spit him back out, Renji." He smirked, even though he was panting for air and was dying to lean against his sword for support as well.
"Yeah? Well I still got here first." The sixth division vice-captain beamed proudly, but it didn't last for long when Ikkaku showed up claiming that he was there before any of them were.
"How unsightly." Yumichika scoffed, as the three men butted heads quite literally over the matter, leaving their squad members to wonder how they could squabble and wrestle over something so stupid.
"Ano..." Ichigo's third seat mumbled in an attempt to interrupt the three men, but her meek voice was easily drowned out by their loud barrage of insults.
At some point, her patience reached its limit, and she whacked all three on the head with the hilt of her sword, earning a dirty look from each of them.
"Ow..."
"Damn it, woman. You broke my nose!"
"Oi, what was that for?"
Her cheeks burned red with annoyance.
"To remind you all why we're here! Kurosaki-fukutaichou, didn't you want to get this done as soon as possible?" she scolded him as he fixated on rubbing the sore ache on his head.
"Yeah, but you didn't have to hit me too," He grimaced. "Aren't I your commanding officer?"
"It's precisely why I hit you especially hard. It is my duty to keep you focused on your goal, fukutaichou," she responded stiffly.
"Now..." she extended a hand to him to help him up, "are we going to finish this mission by tonight or not? I wouldn't want to keep Kuchiki-fukutaichou waiting if I were you."
He chuckled, then clasped her hand with his.
"You hear that, guys. Ms. Aya wants to get this done by tonight," he smirked, as she brought him back to his feet. Behind him, Ikkaku and Renji were wiping away the smudges of dirt that stained their faces from their roughhousing, but they were wearing cocky grins on their faces as well.
"Well, let's not disappoint her then," Renji hollered, as pulled his sword out of the sands and then turned his gaze towards the dark moonless horizon where Rondo's small speck of a castle lay in the distance. "Let's take down that son of a bitch."
Everyone nodded, then in a flash they were gone.
'Look out Rondo...we're coming for you.'
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Orihime hummed a happy tune as she skipped along Seireitei's smooth pavement with a basket of food in one hand and a Quincy in tow of the other.
"Come on Ishida-kun! I can't wait to see the look on Kuchiki-san's face when I give her all of this food!" She laughed, tugging at him to get him to move faster.
The ends of Ishida's lips quirked up at seeing how excited she was about sharing her culinary delicacies with their friend who had developed a newfound appreciation for the brunette's cooking ever since she became pregnant.
"I hope she'll like my honey-glazed steamed buns with coconut/pickled-carrot filling. It's sure to be a hit with her, don't you think?" She exclaimed cheerfully.
A bead of sweat formed on Ishida's brow as he gave her a hesitant chuckle.
"I'm sure that she'll love it." He smiled, earning him a sweet grin from the chipper young woman.
"Teehee." She giggled and was about to say something but her attention was soon drawn away by the familiar sight of the Kurosaki household appearing a few blocks away from where they were.
"Wah! We're almost there!" Orihime shouted excitedly, taking the initiative to run ahead of her companion. Ishida just shook his head and gave her an affectionate smile.
"Inoue-san, wait for me!" he exclaimed, running after her.
They were soon on the front steps of the residence and were about to knock on the door when they suddenly heard a sharp gasp and the sound of glass shattering.
"Ungh!"
Both of their eyes widened in alarm when they felt a significant spike in their friend's reiatsu.
"Rukia-chan!" Orihime shouted, dropping her basket of food as Ishida swiftly ripped open the shoji doors.
There, in the middle of the kitchen, was Rukia clutching her swollen abdomen in unimaginable pain as pieces of shattered porcelain laid forgotten all around her.
She looked up with tears in the corners her eyes.
"Orihime? Ishida...," she moaned, wincing as beads of sweat and strands of wet hair framed her pretty face.
"Rukia-chan!" Orihime cried out, as both she and Ishida rushed to her side to help her up.
Upon draping the petite shinigami's arm around his neck, a serious expression instantly came over Ishida and in one swift move he suddenly had the pregnant woman in his arms.
"Ishida-kun?" Orihime exclaimed, surprised by his actions. ('Oh my! He must still love Rukia-chan!' she thought, as tears made their way into her eyes at the thought of Ishida having to suffer tragically from an unrequited love.)
"Inoue, please catch up with us later. I'm going to run ahead to the 4th division."
A confused expression made its way onto the brunette's face.
"Eh? Can't I just use Shun Shun Rikka for her injuries?" she wondered aloud, glancing over the tiny fukutaichou who was breathing out heavily in soft pants.
"No...even your Shun Shun Rikka cannot help Kurosaki-san in this case." He paused to search for any signs of realization in Orihime's face. Finding none, he sighed then with a steady even voice he stated, "She's going into labor."
Orihime blinked.
Once.
Twice.
"EEHHHHHHHHH!" She cried out, panicking, "Oh my goodness! You should get going!"
With that said, Ishida nodded, then with his Sonido, he vanished with Rukia in his arms.
'Please be okay...' Orihime thought, worriedly, as she stared at the spot where they last stood. All of a sudden, an image of Ichigo invaded her thoughts. 'I hope Kurosaki-kun will return soon. He would be so disappointed to not be here for this moment.'
Speaking of people who would be disappointed to not be here for the arrival of a new Kurosaki.
"Ah! I should let Kuchiki-taichou and Isshin-san know about this!' She suddenly thought. With that resolve in mind, she made her way to her first stop to see a very uncharacteristically frazzled 6th division captain at the Kuchiki manor.
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Somewhere in Los Noches...
After slashing the opponent before him, Ichigo paused for a moment to look in the direction where the portal between Hueco Mundo and Soul Society stood. He could have sworn that he had felt Rukia's reiatsu waver in the distance, but she couldn't be here now, could she?
"Ichigo! Focus, will you?" Ikkaku scolded, as he knocked an enemy to the ground with his spear.
Ichigo gave a sheepish grin.
"Sorry. I think that I'm imagining things." He apologized, earning him a scowl from Ikkaku who went out of his way to take down four more enemies.
"Yeah. Well keep your head out of the clouds until after this is done, okay?"
"Okay. Okay. I don't need you to nag me!" Ichigo frowned, turning his attention back towards the hollow army before him. Try as he might, he could not see nor feel any trace of his wife's reiatsu in Hueco Mundo.
'I must be turning into my old man.' He shook his head to clear his mind of the disturbing thought, as he destroyed half of the adjuchas around him. 'Only he would obsess over his wife as much as I do right now.'
Seeing more hollow creep up around him, he released his bankai.
'In any case, I hope that she's doing all right.'
Then, with a mighty swing, he unleashed a Getsuga Tenshou,
'Please wait for me...Rukia!'
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A/N: Ahahaha. Cheesy cliffhanger! Anyways thanks for reading! It's been awhile since there's been an update, but I've been busy with school work, so finding time to write has not been easy. I only hope that I didn't disappoint you with this chapter. I'm not very good at describing action scenes, so I'm sorry that they are sparse. Anyways, please review if you can. I would greatly appreciate any critiques that could help make the presentation of this story better. :)
~ Silentwater