When you mess with fate

Chapter 12

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

Ichigo leaned out of his window and called out to his redhead friend, "Oi, get down here. It's drizzling."

Stubbing out his cigarette with his shoe, Renji climbed back into the house through Ichigo's old bedroom window. He could hear the other man in the kitchen downstairs, probably heating up their dinner, or something.

The Kurosaki home was now very quiet, with Ichigo being the only occupant. The twins had moved out decades ago when they got married. For a long time, there were only three of them – Ichigo, Orihime, and Kazui, who moved away a few years ago. Orihime was always in and out of the hospital for the treatment of her disease, which she eventually succumbed to.

It had been over a year since her passing. Almost 16 months, to be exact. Ichigo had been living alone since. So instead of mooching off Urahara at the shoten, Renji would stay at the clinic whenever he visited the world of the living.

The house was quite clean, considering that the sole occupant of the place was a man. There was no one to make a mess, anyway. Ichigo hardly visited any of the rooms except his own bedroom, the living room, and the kitchen. Every once in a while, Yuzu would drop by with some of her cooking to stock up his fridge with and help him clean the house wherever needed.

Ichigo had kept his old room for Renji, although there were many times when he wanted to move back into that small chamber. He missed it but there were just too many memories. Yuzu used that room for a while before she moved out. Other than that, nothing had changed. Even the old closet was still there, including the futon and a small stuffed bunny he never got rid of. He thought it would be appropriate for Renji to use that room since she was his...

"What's that?" Renji tilted his head towards the food the host was preparing.

Ichigo scowled. "Ramen, what else?"

Renji scoffed. "Is that all you've been eating these days?"

"No. I just ran out of Yuzu's home-cooked meals."

"Man, I should've stayed at Urahara's place. At least Ururu cooks nice stuff," the redhead complained.

Ichigo shrugged. "Then, go back to the shoten. I never asked you to stay here."

"Nah." Renji shook his head. "You need the company. You're getting pathetically lonely these days."

"I've grown used to it. Been like this since forever. Why were you smoking, anyway?" the shinigami daiko asked. It was the first time he had seen his friend smoke.

It took a while for Renji to come up with an answer, buying time by shoving food into his mouth as if he hadn't eaten in years. "Just felt like it."

"Huh..." Ichigo studied him with a raised eyebrow. "You're getting sloppy, too, with your zanjutsu. Something bothering you?"

It was Renji's turn to shrug. "Haven't sparred in a while. Been pretty quiet here. Hueco Mundo's like a dead world after Ichika and her scouts practically wiped out those new threats. Third and fourth seats are the ones in-charged of training new recruits. There's nothing to do back at Soul Society."

"Don't you spar with Byakuya or the midget?"

Renji chuckled. "Careful, there. You don't want to die by pink petals or fluffy snow because of the way you address them."

Ichigo snorted. "I can take them on any time."

"Yeah, well... you still need to be on your guard. Can't mess with those Kuchiki uptight arses."

"You'd know better," Ichigo sniggered. "You didn't answer my question, though. Don't you spar with any of them?"

Renji got up from his seat to get a can of beer from the fridge. "Taichou's been busy, as usual."

"And Rukia?"

The fukutaichou shrugged again. "Busy, too, I guess."

"You guess? Don't you guys have family dinners or something to talk about your day?" Ichigo questioned. They never really talked about Rukia and Renji's relationship because they never felt the need to. But Ichigo would've expected them to at least see each other at night and talk a bit before bedtime. It's what all couples do, isn't it? Shinigami or not. On his part, Orihime was always the one doing all the talking while he read his Shakespeare collection in bed. Sometimes he would listen. Sometimes he would tune her out; especially when she became excited about a new red bean paste recipe she came across.

Instead of sitting at the dining table, Renji ambled towards the living room and plopped himself down on the couch in front of the TV. He picked up the remote control from the coffee table but before he made an attempt to press the red button to turn the TV on, he glanced at the expectant look on his friend's face.

Ichigo was still looking at him with one brow raised. The orange-haired man, now with some grey highlights, could tell that something had changed with his old comrade. Renji had been spending more time in the living world than he used to. Guys don't really talk to each other about personal matters unless it is really necessary. So Ichigo never asked and Renji never said anything.

The latter sighed, replaced the remote control on the table, and crossed his arm. "We're not what you think we are."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Dude," Renji began, showing Ichigo his left hand. "Have you ever seen either one of us with a ring?"

Ichigo furrowed his brows. "No, but I always thought it was a shinigami thing to not wear rings. Some married humans don't wear their wedding rings because they get in the way of their jobs."

Renji huffed. "Rukia and I are not married, Berryhead."

"Not married? You mean you're divorced? How did that happen?" Ichigo demanded, ignoring the nickname.

"No, stupid. We were never married. We don't even live together. We were engaged, once. It was just a formality – a requirement when the clan went berserk about the whole matter – so Ichika would take after my name," Renji blurted. He hadn't planned on telling this to Ichigo. He never felt it was his place to tell him. But things were going from bad to worse back at home. Rukia had lost herself in her job since her visit with Kazui and he didn't know what happened there. She just stopped talking to everyone all of a sudden.

At first, he thought it was because she was still mad at him for keeping that secret from her but he also remembered that they still had dinner with Byakuya and Ichika every once in a while after that. It was only when she came back from Nagoya a year ago that she had completely shut everyone out. No one knew what was going on. Not even Ichika.

And now that he had let some information slip, it was too late for him to back out of it. Ichigo would beat everything out of him.

"Wait. I don't follow – that whole 'Ichika taking your family name' thing. She's your daughter. By default, she takes your family name. And are you saying you got engaged after you knock Rukia up? No wonder the clan went berserk. What the hell were you guys thinking?" Ichigo chided.

That earned him a loud roar of laughter from Renji. Ichigo just sat at the other end of the couch, eyeing his friend curiously. The guy was clutching his stomach and in tears by the time he was done. "That was funny," Renji said, wiping away some tears that strayed from the corner of his eyes with his knuckles. "You're accusing me of bedding her before marriage when you were the one who got to her first."

Ichigo's cheeks flushed red as he watched Renji take a huge gulp of his beer, still laughing away. The half-human was getting annoyed that he wasn't let in on what was so funny. "She told you," he said quietly.

Renji gave one last short chuckle, took another swig of his drink, and sighed before turning around to face his friend. "She didn't have to. Ichika is the biggest evidence of your sex life."

Eyes widened, brows knitted, jaw clenched. "You shouldn't make a joke out of stuff like that," Ichigo accused, gritting his teeth and pointing a finger in his friend's face.

Renji slapped the finger away before explaining, "I'm not supposed to tell you this. It's not my place to. But Ichika's your kid. We're just not allowed to tell anyone about it. Not even Ichika herself. It was the only way Rukia could keep her. Well, that and if she found a surrogate father for the girl. That's where I came in. But eventually all that commotion died down and the Elders couldn't care less whether we were engaged or married anymore so we called it off." He skipped the part about them dating for two years. It wasn't important.

Ichigo was speechless. It did not make sense. First of all, the girl was the same age as Kazui. Second, she didn't have his orange hair or brown eyes. Heck, even Kazui looked more like him than Ichika did. It was probably because he and Orihime had similar features but that's beside the point. Ichika did not look like him. Or did she?

"Do you not see any resemblance of yourself in her? I mean, she doesn't look like me at all. She's like..." Renji paused, looking around the living room before his eyes landed on Masaki's big poster, which Ichigo never got to take down all these years. He gestured a hand towards it and said, "There. Ichika looks exactly like your mother, but with purple eyes. No, she's like another Karin with different hair and eye colour. She's a K-Kurosaki and... and a Shiba and Rukia, all rolled into one. How could you not see it? I was hoping all these while, that somehow you would catch on to how Ichika looks different from me and question Rukia. And then, she would have to tell you the truth."

Ichigo shook his head absentmindedly. He tried to picture Ichika, whom he hadn't seen in over a year. Renji had told him that the girl had been promoted as a fukutaichou of the Second Division. Hence, she had not had the time to visit. He gasped when all he could think of was Karin's face when she was a teenager. He wasn't sure if he should blame Renji for putting that image in his mind but the more he thought about it, the more Ichika looked like his sisters, even Yuzu.

Clenching his fists, he snapped, "Why didn't anyone tell me about this?"

Renji pursed his lips as he drummed his fingers on his folded knee. He had brought this upon himself. Now, he had to think of a way to convey it to the other man without pissing him off... too much. He exhaled. "Like I said, we weren't allowed to tell anyone that you are Ichika's biological father. The girl knew she was not my kid way before we thought it was safe to tell her. She's a smart girl. I'm not sure if Rukia ever got to tell her about you. When the senkaimon first opened after the war, Rukia decided not to let you know because she heard that you were married and she didn't want it to get in the way of your marriage."

"You could have told me," Ichigo growled. "You knew about Kazui."

"Here we go again," Renji grumbled as he shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You and Rukia are going to be the death of me. Just like you, she forbade me from telling you, okay? I don't even know why I'm doing this. All I'm getting is my arse kicked for keeping things from either one of you."

Ichigo glared at his friend. He felt like crashing into Soul Society once again to demand a proper explanation from the midget. He hadn't been there since the war and now was probably a good time to create havoc there again.

"Look, I know it's all very sudden – and dammit, Rukia's going to kill me when she finds out I told you – but you need to calm the fuck down before you do what I think you're going to do. Rukia has been through hell to protect Ichika; especially from the clan. They were furious because she was an illegitimate child and their reputation was at stake. I know you're going to say 'screw them' but this whole thing was really hard for Rukia. So please, just think about her before you do anything. She has her reasons for keeping it from you. Just... Urgh, I'm so screwed. But I'm sure, in time, she will tell you about it herself," Renji rattled on, the beer and the anxiety of facing Rukia's wrath (again) making him feel apprehensive.

After a few minutes of contemplation, Ichigo said, "I want to see her."

Renji sighed, "I wish I could help you, man. But Rukia and I are not on talking terms. In fact, she's been keeping to herself for almost a year. I'm kind of worried but I'm guessing she probably needs her space or something. I'm planning on talking to Taichou about it."

"What happened?" Ichigo asked.

"I seriously do not know. It happened after the last time she came to the living world," Renji replied.

Ichigo narrowed his eyes. "And that was a year ago? What was she here for? She hardly visits and I haven't seen her since that last time when she found out about Kazui."

Renji hesitated but he knew he might as well have told Ichigo everything at this point. "She went to Nagoya to see Kazui."

I've been getting reviews for the last couple of chapters and I want to say, 'thank you' and I'm sorry for not replying. I've been writing this chapter as the words were just flowing, probably making up for those few days when I disappeared for a while. My brain works funny sometimes. I'll try to reply everyone after this.

I really did not mean to make Orihime sound like a selfish person. I just totally put myself in her character and wrote that letter. Like I mentioned in my author's note in that chapter, it was surprisingly easier to write compared to the chapter before that. But I suppose that's who she really is. It's not that she's selfish. She just thinks differently from everyone else. Maybe she thought that by offering to take care of Ichigo, she would be able to fill the void Rukia left in him. Maybe she thought she was doing Uryuu a favour by not hurting him when she rejected him. Maybe she thought she could still help Ichigo get on with life when she kept her feelings for him in case if one day, he really needed her. Who knows? Lol! Oh no… now that I think about it, this character is seriously a joke created by Kubo-sensei.

Next chapter, we'll see an Ichika and Kazui interaction.