Music suggestion for the beginning of this chapter: Alchemy by Johnny Hollow.
Cat Who Got Answers
Grass whispers under his feet as he walks along the edge of the concrete-bottomed river. He's working on his reiryoku control as he tries not to think how to tell his friends about his current circumstances. Though the air is cool this close to the water he is sweating lightly as he concentrates on holding a thin layer of his spiritual energy over his body. It needs to be far enough out so it doesn't destroy his clothes (his energy is rather potent) but near enough it doesn't kill the grass. It has the added affect of warding off the insects whining by his ears. He suspects that if someone like Ishida were here, someone able to see reiryoku, he would look like he is at the point of an inverted cone whose wide end is cut off somewhere above his hair.
The grass hisses above him as a black cat slides down the slope in his general direction. Soon it joins him in his walk along the water's edge. The companionable silence is pleasant but after about eight or so minutes the cat speaks.
"Ichigo," the cat greets in a deep voice.
He jerks his head in acknowledgment. "Yoruichi. Am I needed for something back at the shop?"
The cat shakes its head. "I'm just here to check up on you."
He kicks at a pebble and it plops into the water. "Huh. Did Sandle-Hat put you up to it?"
The cat shrugs. "He told me something was up and I came to hear about it from you."
Ichigo considers this as he walks. Yoruichi is a reasonably trustworthy confident. She couldn't be trusted to give much information, even if it could have been used, but by the same token she rarely gave out secrets, even if drunk. He suspected that it came from heading the branch of Shinigami that most resembled ninja. He nods to himself.
"Yeah, I'm in a spot of trouble. Nothing I can't handle, so I would prefer you keep it to yourself. I'll tell people about it myself when I feel like letting them know."
"Certainly, Ichigo," the cat responds solemnly.
"About three months ago, or thereabouts, my inner hollow was acting up. Neither Zangetsu or I could get him to shut up. Finally we found a solution. A couple of days ago, I'd noticed I was over weight in my soul form. Dad got Urahara to check it out and it turns out..." Ichigo sighed. "It turns out, I'm pregnant somehow."
The cat froze with one foot still in the air. "Run that by me again?"
Ichigo stops and crouches down to face the cat directly. "The solution that Zangetsu and I came up with to shut up the hollow, was for Zangetsu to have sex with him. It worked and I did my best not to think about it much. Somehow, Zangetsu having sex with my inner hollow ended up with my having some sort of sympathy pregnancy, except there's really a baby."
Again, I'd prefer you not tell anyone else how I got pregnant. I'll do that when I feel like it."
Yoruichi twitched from the tip of her nose to the end of her tail in a full body shudder.
"How? How would that even work?"She protests. "A Zangetsu is your Zanpakuto, a spirit blade made from your soul. The hollow is part of you too, the dead part."
Ichigo shrugs. "Hollows usually resemble animals and non-gendered ones at that. Maybe they all have some sort of animal-esque breeding seasons but it is suppressed by the continual state of seeming starvation. Maybe the most powerful ones, the ones that usually stay in Hueco Mundo where not much can be learned about them, are the only ones that are well enough fed to have sex and breed somehow, same as the dead in the Soul Society."
"Because my inner hollow is still part of me he does not suffer from starvation and we are well above average in power. So he was able to to enter a reproductive cycle. As he lives in my inner world, which is only populated by Zangetsu and myself, both males, he was forced to adapt to be able to carry offspring. Not that he seems to mind." Ichigo scowls.
Yoruichi fluffs up, before sitting and grooming the fur back into place beginning with quick licks to her chest. She pauses to say, "That seems plausible. Any thoughts on how you got pregnant."
Ichigo grunts. "I've got a guess and I don't want to think about it. Zangetsu is pretty sure he knows but he hasn't told me yet because I don't want to hear it. Sandle-Hat thinks my current condition is pretty normal so far, aside from being a guy and all, so I don't think I need to get the answer right now."
They stroll until they reach a the next bridge over the river and Ichigo turns to go home.
Yuroichi has recovered herself well enough and she calls out as he walks away. "Hey, Ichigo. Let me know if you have problems. I'll help if I can. Also, I expect to be named godmother!"
Ichigo raises a hand in farewell, not looking back at the black cat sitting on a bridge support.
He supposes that Yuroichi might make a decent godmother. At the very least she qualifies as powerful enough to protect his kid against almost anything that might come its way. And she doesn't like Chappy the Rabbit. It could work.
Omake:Renji, "Hey, Ichigo! Rukia came to me with this weird idea that you've got a trout in the well. She insists I come see you and bring a gift, so here. Make sure she knows I gave you the thing. Don't know how she thinks it could possibly be true though. Guys don't have that kinda well."
Much the same way that living world toys made light of dangerous animals apparently so too did Soul Society. The thing was a stuffed animal that was reminiscent of some sort of Hollow-fied rabbit, with a white satin face and strawberry-seed patterned cotton body. Two black satin circles, one on the chest and the other on the back, represented the missing Chain of Fate.
Ichigo's eye twitched. "Thanks," he said flatly. "You can tell her I appreciated your gift."
As ever, I crave reviews! Let me know what you think! And just think, it's been less than five months since I updated this time. 1,077 words, written on 8/15/15.
I plan to write reactions from most of the living main characters and a few of the dead but they will likely vary on the shorter side between the length of Yoruichi's and Renji's. You, my dear readers, are free and encouraged to make suggestions as to how certain characters react.