When you mess with fate

Chapter 8

A/N: I do not own Bleach and its characters. If I did... Never mind…

"But you are not my father!"

Rukia covered her mouth as she gasped in shock. She snapped her eyes towards Renji who was looking back at her, biting his lower lip anxiously. She furrowed her brows, her face full of questions. Before she could verbalise them, the door slammed open as Kazui stormed out of the house with his luggage. When he realised they had guests outside their home, his steps halted for a while as he threw glances at the two people standing awkwardly at his doorstep.

"Kazui..." Rukia reached her hand out to him.

The human boy she had seen growing up to be this man before her glared at her for a few seconds too long before he left, seemingly angrier than he was when he was having the argument with Ichigo.

Hands on his knees, Renji inhales deeply as he tried to catch his breath. This was easily the most exhausting sparring sessions in his entire life. Doesn't look like we're just sparring anymore, he thought, staring ahead at his short friend. Feels like she's trying to kill me. Damn you, Ichigo.

His eyes widened when Rukia took on a fighting stance, ready to charge at him. It was kind of scary, that look she had on her face. For the fifth time since they had started, he wondered if it was really Byakuya with some disillusionment kido he was up against. The only expression she had was utter disgust.

Picking up his katana, he lifted his free hand in front him to indicate that he had had enough. His shihakusho was more or less in tatters now. "Rukia, please. I've said it like a zillion times. I'm sorry. Ichigo only wanted you to hear it from..."

"Mae, Sode no Shirayuki!"

"Shit!" Renji cried before releasing his shikai. "Hoero, Zabimaru!"

The temperature in the training ground of the 13th Division plunged way below what he could handle. He shivered visibly even as his zanpakutou extended to swipe away at ice flakes that were coming at him. There were icicles forming at the tips of his segmented sword immediately. Not good.

"Some no mai, Tsukishiro!" Rukia circles her sword before her, the cold of her surrounding having no effect on her.

"Rukia!" Renji shouted as he shunpo away from her targeted area.

She still refused to speak a word to him. Placing the ball of her right foot in front of her left, she pivoted with Sode no Shirayuki held horizontally across her face before she struck the end of the sword up towards where Renji was hanging in the air.

He barely managed to swing Zabimaru to slice the laser ice aimed at his chest. You'd think she would be done with two hours of swords play by now. She never released her shikai at him unless they were training for a mission. Today was supposed to be basic swing-and-parry zanjutsu training.

In a quick motion Rukia shunpo towards the redhead, both hands gripping the hilt of her sword above her head to stabilise it against the artificial snowy blizzard she had created. Her foot lightly touched the flat surface of his sword to give her a boost in his direction. She was about to slice her sword downwards when her limps died on her and she found herself free-falling, scarcely missing Zabimaru on her way down before she landed in a pair of frozen arms.

Recovering from her astonishment, she found herself glaring at the teal eyes of the taichou of the 10th Division, Hitsugaya Toushiro. The kid captain, however, looked back at her coolly.

With the grace of the dancer that she was, she swung one leg over the other to get off of his hold before pushing away from him. Still glaring. "This is a private training session, Hitsugaya-taichou," she said, her voice calm and low, and not betraying her rage.

"I am aware of that, Kuchiki-taichou. But you were freezing the barracks of the Gotei 13 and I was sent to stop you because I am the only one who can incapacitate you at this temperature," he explained.

Rukia looked around her before hesitantly meeting those teal eyes again. "Thanks," she mumbled with a small bow.

Hitsugaya nodded and then, he was gone from their sight. The ice began to thaw – too agonisingly slow for Renji who was frozen stiff on the ground.

Rukia knelt down next to him to cast a healing kido upon him in silence. She was apologising – in her Kuchiki way – for almost killing him, but she couldn't find it in herself to forgive him for keeping her in the dark about Kazui. Wasn't he supposed to be her best friend? Whose side was he on?

"Look," he began when he felt he had gained a bit of energy to speak. "Ichigo thought it would be better for him to reveal this to you after he has passed on. I got to know it by accident when Arisawa blurted it out the first time we visited them after the senkaimon was unsealed."

A surge of heat coursed through his wounds and he winced quietly in pain. Rukia's jaw clenched. She did not trust herself to speak or she would surely say something that would hurt him even more.

"You know what?" he coughed. "These past decades have been a torture for me to keep your secrets from each other. You are both my close friends. I couldn't tell you about Kazui for the same reason I can't tell him about Ichika. Now that you know his secret, I think it's time he knows yours."

"You may go," Rukia croaked before she shunpo to her captain's quarters. She felt bad for leaving Renji like that. He had been so supportive of her all these years, even letting Ichika have his family name when the elders threatened to do away with the baby. She would make it up to him some day but at the moment, she couldn't even reconcile with herself.

Renji sighed. For the first time in over forty years, he felt relieved that he would be going back to Karakura the next day for his monthly patrol. He hadn't been spending much time there since Ichigo's reiatsu suppression was lifted some 20 years ago. At least I'll be away from Rukia's wrath for a while. But he knew Rukia was mad, not so much because she wasn't told about Kazui's background, but rather that she had practically given Ichigo a reason to keep it from her.

Rukia arrived at her quarters to find Ichika sprawled on her stomach across the couch in her orange sweatpants and black tank top. Her wavy, golden brown hair, which covered her face like a curtain parted at her back to reveal the tattoo of a black flame just at the nape of her neck, the kanji for her zanpakutou – Kuroi Honoo – written just below it.

"You're back," Rukia stated, placing her zanpakutou on the stand in one corner of the living area.

The girl nodded as she said something, which was muffled by the couch. Her mother grunted in reply, already very used to her daughter's perpetual teenage behaviour. Kind of reminded her of...

Rukia shook her head to make the thought disappear. "How was your trip to Hueco Mundo?" she asked.

Ichika took her time to sit up and gave her mother some space on the couch. "49 kills. All new-breed Adjuchas," she answered smugly.

The captain smirked. Her daughter had always been boastful of her wipeouts. She had warned her about being too confident but so far, Ichika had been careful enough to not get herself trashed too badly on the battlefield. Rukia wasn't worried about her most of the time. After all, she did inherit her father's fighting spirit. "So are you ready to take up that fukutaichou post? You only have a month to go."

"Of course! Sui-Feng-taichou has given me that one-month's leave before the installation. I'm thinking of dropping by the human world to hang out with Kazui," she said, getting excited about her plans.

Rukia furrowed her brows. It was now or never. She had to tell Ichika the truth. The Elders are not going to like this, she thought. Let's hope Nii-sama would understand, though. "Ichika, let's spend the weekend together at the summer house in the 2nd District. We could go now since I'm taking a few days off as well."

Ichika beamed at her mother. It had been too long since they last spent time with each other. To her, Rukia was the coolest mother anyone could ever asked for – not that she knew anyone else who had a mother, except for Kazui. Her friends were mostly people who came from Rukongai before signing up at the Shinō Academy. They did not have parents because they just appeared there after dying in the human world. And souls do not breed. In Soul Society, anyone could get married but only the nobles are able to have children. She was lucky that her mother was from a noble family, even though she always wondered how her mother could conceive her since she was adopted into the Kuchiki clan.

An hour later, they arrived at her uncle's summerhouse, which was located in a 2nd District village, miles away from town. It was probably only her third or fourth time there in her 46 years of life. No one really used this place but she knew her mother came down here at least twice a year to unwind from her hectic life as a taichou.

"Ichika," Rukia started. They were both sitting at the patio, having a drink from juice boxes Renji brought back from the human world every time he went on a patrol there. He knew how much Rukia liked those sweet drinks, especially the strawberry flavoured ones. "There is something I need to tell you before you see Kazui."

Ichika moved her rattan chair closer to Rukia's to give her mother her full attention. "What is it, Kaa-san?"

"Ichika, Kazui isn't Kurosaki-san's child," Rukia paused, gazing at her daughter's sapphire eyes. "You are."

Haha... I just had to add Hitsugaya into this chapter. Wish I could put him and Karin together but let's not get sidetracked from the main pairing. Lol! After all, the goal of this fic is to mend the holes, tie up loose ends, and trim the edges of the ribbons so they don't fray again. Oh, and Ichika's zanpakutou, Kuroi Honoo, means 'black flame'.

Thank you, Shirayuki992 for your comments. I'm sorry I didn't get to post a reply to you in the recent chapters. I tend to forget things like that in my author's notes as I would usually reply directly as a private message to my reviewers. So here's a lengthy one especially for you. Lol! You mentioned something about the soul form of a human. I always thought I would want my soul form to look like the best time of my life, not right before I die (when I'm old and grey or sickly or losing a limb). So, just to be fair to all souls, Orihime would look 18 when she separates from her 65-year-old, cancer-stricken body. Eighteen was probably the best time of her life when she just got back from the war and the world was peaceful once again.

With regards to how Kazui feels about Ichigo: from his point of view, Ichigo would be the biggest asshole in the world for marrying his mother out of sympathy (and convenience, though he doesn't really know that). The Ichigo we are all familiar with isn't pretentious so it is only expected that his relationship with Orihime remains at the level of friendship where one cares for the other with no intimacy even though they are married. It's exactly what we see in Chapter 686. I must say, Kubo-sensei is a brilliant artist who penned the expressions so well to show that there's really nothing going on between Ichigo and Orihime except for a gentle-eyed child. All hail the King of Trolls! Haha...

Uryuu... Would he really leave Orihime if they had a child together? :D He loves the girl so much. Once again, Kubo-sensei is a brilliant mangaka who singled out the Ichiruki connection amidst all the unrequited feelings he created in the entire manga. Well, there was another couple with chemistry. But he killed the guy. Remember Gin and Rangiku? I'm still so pissed off that he didn't bring Gin back to Soul Society. He brought back the redundant Fullbrings, for Kami's sake!

Not going to dwell too much on how Kazui does not have an ounce of Ichigo in him except for the colour of the hair and eyes. It's like he was painted with Ichigo's shades but he has none of Ichigo's vibrancy, his spirit. That's the reason why he is Orihime's son in this fic and not Ichigo's. Gentle = Orihime. Brash = Ichigo. If there's anything a child could inherit from their father, it's definitely his spirit.

Renji, even in the manga, has always known where he stands with Rukia. He has deep feelings for her but he knows he is not the man for her. And so he accepts his role as a protective brother to her. In fact, he's more of an older brother to her than Byakuya ever was.

That shitty ending. Lol! Yeah, I shamelessly included my thoughts on the parts that didn't make sense to me. Chad being a boxer, Uryuu a doctor, the wild trio still acting like teenagers even though they are supposed to be nearing their thirties, Yuzu's weird sibling complex that I just cannot stomach so I left it at them Kurosakis going 'into some inside story conversation, which Rukia had no idea about and couldn't be bothered with, to be honest', also about Rukia's lack of confidence and not meeting-the-eye behaviour when she met Ichigo. Yes, it was painful for me to do it but I studied that chapter at all angles.

To the Guest who reviewed in Chapter 7, thank you so much for reading and commenting despite being a non-shipper. Yes, I admit they are kind of OOC, as they should be after 686 happened. Because they were very OOC in 686. Like I mentioned in the chapters of my fic and the response to the reviews, almost everything was out of place in the ending of the manga (please refer to my comments on this in the paragraphs above). That's what makes the ending so shitty and has the entire Bleach fandom flipping tables. Well, almost the whole fandom. Those who are satisfied with the ending are, frankly speaking, shoujo manga picture watchers. I've seen a comment on Facebook by one of these stalkers who couldn't even get the spelling of the characters right and they claim to be a Bleach fan. I won't even bet they understood what Yhwach said when he told Ichigo that our orange head hero had to choose between his own happiness and saving the world, which of course he chose the latter, being the selfless, ever-sacrificing soul that he always was. Okay... Ranting again. Sorry. Lol! Let's get back to my reply.

Rukia would fight blood and sweat to achieve her dreams but not at the expense of others. In my fic, if she had known that the senkaimon would open sooner, she would probably have just told Ichigo to wait it out but they thought it would take a hundred years which is slightly more than a human lifetime (if you've read Don't say goodbye), so she wanted him to have his normal life back because there was really no need for him to practise being a shinigami anyway. The only regret she has is that their future was so uncertain to them before the humans came back to the world of the living. Of course, she knew that it was too late to change anything when they got back ten years later and found out that both of them were already married to other people. That's the reason why she refused to say anything that would complicate things at the rooftop.

I'm not going to touch on Orihime because it would give away too much and spoil the rest of the fic. But you will see later on, how big a role she plays in this. At the end of the day, I think this fic is more about Rukia's friendship with Orihime... on Rukia's end, that is. Ichigo's side of the story is heavily based on him doing the right thing following the choice he made... and not screwing up, as his father had advised him.

"As for Ichigo, why didn't he do anything to stop Rukia, or at least confront the reasons behind her decision if he is so in love with her? That would make me question his trust in Rukia. And is Orihime just a convenient choice? He does not just make himself but also three of his precious nakama suffer. Is he that heartless?

And for the four people involved, is marrige to them a joke if that's the case?"

I'm sorry but you need to read 'Don't say goodbye' with regards to why Ichigo 'didn't do anything to stop Rukia' because it's not so much that he didn't but that he couldn't; and it's not Rukia that he couldn't stop but the circumstances that landed them in that situation.

The children... Hahaha... The children were doomed the minute they appeared on 686. To me, they don't exist in the manga. I've said this on my tumblr and I will say this again: Bleach is not Naruto. It does not need progenies. So the children were a waste of panels. Bleach is about soul balancing. It's about soul reapers performing konso on plusses, purifying hollows, dying while protecting friends and families, not procreating – that's for humans. We don't breed shinigami. We recruit reiatsu-buzzing souls from the Rukongai and train them in the Shinō Academy. Only the nobles are able to procreate. So I seriously don't see the significance of Kazui or Ichika other than a sequel-in-the-making to Bleach which will probably try to make up for the lost connection between the ORIGINAL Death and the Strawberry. Once again, no... Bleach does not work that way. Kubo-sensei could've just ended it with both Rukia and Ichigo standing at the senkaimon in their shihakusho, overlooking the human world, with the Seireitei behind them. Don't even need to fucking marry them. Lol! Leave the pairing to the fans. That's what fan fictions and fan arts are for, aren't they? 686 was the worst ending ever for a shounen manga because the hero ended up with the unfulfilling life he hated.

Look at that... My author's note is longer than the fic chapter itself. Lol! But I kind of enjoyed replying. Would be better, though if you could review as a user and not a guest so I can reply you immediately instead of waiting to insert it into my next chapter update. Thanks, Guest, for your kind words of encouragement. I appreciate it greatly that you would continue to read my fic(s).

Also, a huge 'thank you' to all my other readers who followed, favourited, and reviewed. Next chapter will talk about how Ichika came to be. I will reference more on 'Don't say goodbye' there.