When you mess with fate

Chapter 9

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

Kuchiki Byakuya was getting concerned about his sister's state of health. Ever since the ryoka had gone back to the human world three months ago, Rukia had shown signs of depression. She seemed to have reverted to her old self during those 17 months when Kurosaki Ichigo lost his shinigami powers. This time, though, it looked worse than before. As much as he despised the uncouth human, Byakuya knew that Kurosaki was an important person in his sister's life. Perhaps, the most important person even.

He couldn't really blame Rukia for being more upset this time because the soutaichou had issued a decree for the sealing of the senkaimon until such time when Yhwach's reiatsu disappeared for good. Based on the knowledge of the 12th Division, it would take almost a hundred years before that could happen. They were still trying to find a way to accelerate the dissolution of the reiatsu but things did not look very promising for them. On top of that, the Soul Society was still in ruins.

During the first weeks after the humans had gone back, Rukia was still able to get herself together to sort out the office of the 13th Division. Byakuya supposed reality must have hit her like a bomb after a while because she started to frequently skip meals and keep herself locked up in her room. Tonight, he would check on her. The last time he had seen her was a week ago. That night she was present at dinner with him but had rushed off without properly excusing herself when the first dish was served.

Byakuya tapped his knuckles on Rukia's shoji door twice while releasing a bit of his reiatsu to let her know it was him. He tried again a few more times when she didn't respond. He could sense her presence in the room but her spiritual pressure was weak. He wasn't sure if she was asleep or...

"Rukia," he called. "I'm coming in." He gently slid the door open and that's when he heard the sound of her retching in the bathroom.

The Elders were all gathered at the Kuchiki hall, looking at Rukia with disdain. She was seated next her brother, head bowed in guilt for having caused Byakuya the embarrassment. She was in her second trimester but still barely showing. If it weren't for the gossiping servants, the Elders would not have come to know of her pregnancy.

Now that Rukia had recovered from her morning sickness, she was getting better at keeping the food down but she was still constantly fatigued by her condition. Shinigami work had been kept to a minimum. There wasn't much they could do while waiting for the repairs to be done, anyway. Kotetsu-san had asked for a transfer to the Fourth Division to assist her sister who was running the whole office on her own following the death of Unohana-taichou. But Sentarou-san had been a great help to Rukia and while he did notice how tired she always was, he never asked.

Here at the clan meeting, Rukia's head was just reeling in anxiety. All she wanted to do was crawl into her futon for a good long sleep. She couldn't even be bothered with what the Elders were talking about. It felt like she was floating away.

"I don't see a problem here since the man who caused this disgrace is not here anymore. We can still terminate the pregnancy," said one of them.

"No," Byakuya objected. "This child is Rukia's. I will not have it killed just because the father is absent."

"Byakuya, you can't possibly allow her to carry on with this. It is not a legitimate child. The news about her pregnancy will travel fast. The clan's reputation is at stake here. We are going to be the laughing stock of the other clans once again. Are you willing to bear that burden of being the one to cause it? Again? You know what they are going to say: Byakuya's adopted street rat sister..."

"Enough! She will keep the child. And if it's only your face you're worried about, I will send her to stay at the 2nd District until it is comfortable enough for her to come back to the Seireitei."

"You don't understand, do you? Our concern is that there will be a child out of wedlock within the clan. Our noble clan. We cannot have that. Or we will have to renounce her..."

"Then, I will see to it that the child does not bear the Kuchiki name," Byakuya barked. He knew they would use this as a way to disown Rukia but he wouldn't have that. Not because he made a promise to Hisana, but because he had come to accept and appreciate Rukia as his own sister.

There was a contemptuous silence in the hall as everyone stared at the rebel clan leader. For the umpteenth time, Kuchiki Byakuya was giving the Elders a huge headache. They could never understand why it was always so hard for him to abide by the rules of the clan.

"Very well," came the voice of one very old Elder who was sitting right across from where Rukia was. "She may keep it but on our terms."

Byakuya grunted in irritation. "And what are the terms?"

"She may keep the pregnancy," the old lady repeated. "And you may keep her in the clan. But no one must know who the father is, including the child. We don't want word to get out that a potential Kuchiki heir has had a promiscuous relationship before marriage. And as you have said earlier, the child will not bear the Kuchiki name. Find a surrogate father for the child who will then, take after his family name."

Rukia, who had kept her head bowed throughout the discussion, swallowed her tears of sorrow and guilt. Sorrow for her rejected child, and guilt for her discriminated brother. But she would never let them take the child away from her. It may have looked like a licentious affair to the Elders but to her, the memory of the covenant he made with her stayed bright and true. And the child was the fruit of that covenant.

"Taichou," Renji gasped, skimming through the contents of the scroll that Byakuya had assigned him to deliver. "What's the meaning of this?"

Byakuya looked up from the document he was perusing. "I believe that scroll is strictly confidential, Abarai. Deliver the message as I have instructed. You are to tell no one about it," he ordered.

Renji scrunched up his brows. Normally, he would not dare to defy his superior with the killer sakura petals but this concerned his childhood friend. "I'm sorry, taichou. But I can't let you marry Rukia off to a random stranger. Does she even know about this?"

The raven-haired captain sighed. Of course, his fukutaichou would react badly to this. Rukia was Renji's only family. As much as Byakuya would like to admonish his objection – which he had no right to, considering that the redhead had nothing to do with the Kuchiki clan matters, he also had had enough of the disputes and contention with regards to Rukia's pregnancy. Just once, he would like to have at least one party accepting it with an open heart, and he knew Renji would be one such party. So, he proceeded to tell his fukutaichou about Rukia's situation.

By the time Byakuya had finished explaining, Renji was understandably pissed off, especially at the way the Kuchiki clan was handling it. For a minute there, he was also furious at Ichigo for leaving Rukia to bear the responsibility of their child on her own. But he knew deep within, had the brash young man known about the child, he would have fought Soul Society with everything he had left after the war to come back here to be with Rukia.

However, after all these, the last emotion he had was hurt. Hurt, because Rukia did not have the confidence in him to tell him about it. He would have tried to protect her before it got to the clan. But then again, whom was he kidding? Protecting Rukia was never his destined purpose in life. That was Kurosaki Ichigo's. And the bastard was not around. Renji could only provide her the support that she needed. It had always been like that.

"I'll do it," he finally spoke up long after Byakuya allowed him the time to let the information sink in.

The taichou of the Sixth Division stared back at him in shock. Renji had never looked so determined in all his time working for him. "You will do what?"

Renji cleared his throat. "I'll be the surrogate father to the child. You don't have to look elsewhere and you sure as hell don't have to pay me," he said, his finger pointing accusatively at the scroll, which was laid out on the taichou's table.

For the first time, Byakuya was speechless. But I should have seen this coming. Abarai's feelings for Rukia had always been so obvious, he thought.

"You... you don't have to pay me, taichou. I would do it for Rukia in a heartbeat if you had told me first."

Byakuya's expression softened, as he turned his gaze away from Renji. "Very well," he said, nodding uncertainly. "But I will need to speak to Rukia to see if she agrees to this. You will have to be engaged before she is sent to the summerhouse, where she will stay until she delivers and maybe even a couple of years after that."

A simple yuinou was held for Renji and Rukia during the weekend before she made the one-hour journey to her 'hideout' – as she had called it. She hated that it looked like an act of cowardice, an act of shame, that she had to isolate herself and her child from everybody when, truth be told, she was actually very proud to be bearing it.

She and Renji hadn't spoken much about their union. There was a silent agreement – and Renji himself had expected it – that their relationship would not change and the engagement was just a formal ritual that the child would be named after him. Of course, she was grateful that her childhood best friend would sacrifice his marital status for her. But she couldn't return his feelings for him at the moment or promise him that she would, in the future. That would be a cruel lie.

Besides, Renji could tell where her heart lay. He didn't want to start hoping that she would change her mind someday. Because he knew, that even if Ichigo and Rukia couldn't be together now, their string of fate would somehow link them together again one fine day in the future. And when that day comes, their lost bond would be forged again.

So here's how Ichika came about. Let me explain why I always see Ichika as Ichigo's kid. In 686, Ichika is never coloured. There's no proof at all that she has Renji's red hair. I compared the grey shade of her hair to all the others' and found it to be similar to Yuzu's and Masaki's in some panels. Yes... Hahaha... A grey shade is a very generic colour in a black and white page of a manga. But come on, it helps me sleep at night. Lol!

Guest! Hi again. Thanks for your review. Although, I'm not too sure about what you mean about making Isshin look bad. In Chapter 3, it was Ichigo who decided to marry Orihime. Isshin did try to advise him against it. But Ichigo insisted on carrying through with his plan. And so, Isshin told him to not screw up with whatever decision he made. Papa never forced Ichigo to marry Orihime because he knew that his son was in love with Rukia. He even accompanied Ichigo to buy the ring for Rukia.

I hope you feel better for Renji after reading this chapter. There will be another part in the next chapter about his relationship with Rukia. Maybe it will help clear things up after that.

Ichika's red hair: I've already mentioned that above. Kazui being a shinigami: erm... again, I think I've mentioned this before in one of my previous chapters. He's not a shinigami. There are no kid shinigami. Shinigami are trained when they enter the Shinō Academy. So in my fic – because of how incredulous I think kid shinigami are – Kazui was only cosplaying as a death god. The costume was given by Yoruichi who must've told him stories about shinigami anime and manga and such. Even Ichika hated the outfit when she's younger because she felt it restricted her movements. By the way, if you go back to 686, you'd see that Kazui is wearing the shihakusho over a hoodie. It looks really, really weird. So I don't think he's a shinigami at all. A shinigami purifies hollows, there's blood and gore involved. Even if I were a shinigami myself, I would still want to preserve my kid's innocence for as long as possible until such time when he is ready to enter the Academy.

Yes, I agree with you that Bleach should have ended when the Arrancar Arc ended. Kubo should've just left it at Ichigo losing his shinigami powers but at the same time showed that he missed it and craved for it to be back. THEN, and only then can Studio Pierrot expand into Bleach movies like what Marvel and DC do with their comics.

Again, thanks for all your reviews. I've replied personally to the others... I hope. Haha. If I haven't, please PM me to remind me. Next chapter, we'll explore Renji and Rukia's relationship after they returned from their first visit to Karakura when the senkaimon first opened again after the war. We'll also see a Rukia-Kazui interaction.