...
...
Everyone's smiling, they're smiling
It pushes me far far away
I can't understand
Everything is blue
...
...
...
3 weeks.
That was how long time had passed since...
Orihime flushed red in the face.
Since you got drunk off your behind and slept with Kurosaki-kun.
Her expression faded from embarrassment to sadness, as she glanced at her phone for what felt like the billionth time that week. He hadn't texted or tried to contact her at all, despite all the time that had passed since Kojima-kun's party. Was he avoiding her?
That couldn't be. Orihime shook her head, biting her lip in indecisiveness. He couldn't be ashamed of it... could he?
Even if he had once loved... someone else, it didn't mean that he wasn't capable of moving on, she reasoned. It was perfectly normal for humans to move forward and find love again after a heartbreak... that was, her assuming he actually had feelings for Kuchiki-san- maybe she was wrong, and he didn't!
Then why hasn't he contacted you? You gave your virginity to him, for god's sake-!
...Maybe he was so drunk he didn't remember what happened.
There's no way, she thought to herself. He woke up before her and left without saying anything. He must have noticed where he was.
He's ashamed of what happened. She bit her lip, attempting to will the tears gathering in her eyes from falling.
Maybe he's just waiting for me to make the first move..? ... But college will be starting in a few months.. he can't avoid me forever, right?
She sighed, scrubbing the tears from her face and shaking her head, "This is silly! I'm being silly! That's it, no more moping around!"
She reached across her table and grabbed her phone, flipping it open.
"Tatsuki-chan! Are you busy?...Yeah!... I am just craving ice cream, wanna go get some?"
2 months.
That was how long it had been since...
Ichigo sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in self disgust as he picked up a shirt from the laundry basket, folding it and placing it on the bed.
I just have to stop thinking about it. I was drunk. I'll just act normally and she'll think I don't remember a thing. If she asks... Ichigo shivered at the thought. Act clueless.
Somehow, despite having enrolled at the same community college for fall, he had somehow managed to not run into Inoue anywhere. But how long could that last? He'd practically avoided everyone meeting in a group this summer, instead taking extra hours at Unagiya-san's place as an excuse. But once classes started, then what? Ichigo shook the thoughts from his own head.
Stop thinking, stop thinking, stop thinking...
Thinking? He could barely even think of the party without having an anxiety-induced panic attack. This one action had for sure ruined his relationships with possibly all of his friends, provided that they somehow knew what had happened. Although he had not heard from anyone nor gotten any questions about it, so maybe Inoue had said nothing at all?
Surely, Ichigo thought to himself, Tatsuki would have murdered him if she knew he was ignoring her best friend after all this time.
...What about Rukia?
The sudden thought of her in his mind jolted him, and he found himself suddenly irate at himself for the thought. What the hell! She's married. Stop it already!
Sighing, he put the basket down on the floor, eyes downcast.
It's not like it matters to her what happens to me, anyway.
He was jolted from his thoughts by the sudden sound of the doorbell ringing. He made his way down the steps, his mind still partially distracted by thoughts as he opened the front door. "Yeah-?"
Ichigo froze as he took in realization that he had not thought to stop to feel for a reiatsu- if he had, he might have not opened the door. For there stood Inoue Orihime, plucking at her fingers with a nervous expression on her face. She looked tired as she looked up at him, and he didn't have a chance to speak as she said, "Kurosaki-kun, could I come in? I..."
Oh no.
"..I just have something I wanted to talk about." her face was flushed now, and Ichigo inwardly panicked.
"Uh.. sure. Come in."
He directed her awkwardly to the living room- no one was home, anyway, and wouldn't be for a few more hours. She sat down on the couch, removing her small purse from her shoulder to her lap. "Kurosaki-kun, I... I need to tell you something important... I'm not sure where to begin so..."
Ichigo sat down on the sofa across from her, trying to act as casually as possible, to not give off hint of him remembering... that time. He watched as the girl opened her purse pulling a small plastic bag from it.
His heart skipped a beat when he noticed what was inside.
"I, um.." Inoue began again, and he could see her eyes beginning to well with tears.
"I'm pregnant."
I wonder, can I carry on with the speed of the world without you in it?"
...
If life had felt like it was slipping from his hands too quickly... he couldn't have even imagined what he was going to feel now.
Inoue... Inoue was pregnant. With his baby. That was conceived on a drunken one-night stand that was currently the bane of his existence.
Yes. Things moved even more quickly after that little bit of information was given to him. She had confessed to him that she could not go through with an abortion, and she was stuck now because she had been fired the day before from her job at the bakery due to her morning sickness. It meant she might also lose her apartment if she couldn't pay, as well as the fact that her land lord would not tolerate her bringing a baby to the place, as it was in her contract that no pets nor small children were allowed. And without a job, how could she afford college, a baby, and rent all at once?
She was stuck. He was stuck.
There was no way Ichigo could abandon his child. Part of him, some awful rude part of him, almost wanted to ask her for a DNA test, but he couldn't put such an insinuation on her at this time.
She would drop out of college- a decision she had told him herself. He argued against it at first, but she stated not wanting to go to school when she would be pregnant, and was near tears at that point so he dared not argue any further.
Then he brought up the idea of marriage.
It wasn't because he wanted to- more of him wanting his future child to have some sort of a stable home, like the one he had when he was little. Inoue's face had lit up at that idea, and then she cried again- although he supposed it was happy tears. He wasn't sure how to feel about that, a girl of 19 dropping out of school to have a baby with someone who was not in love with her.
But it was her choice to make.
Telling his family was difficult. He could barely look him in the eyes when confessing the reality to Isshin, who had merely nodded along, eyes hard, and told him that he loved him and would do his best to support him- but this meant Ichigo would have to become an adult now, rather than later. Ichigo wept when Isshin suggested that he change rooms with him, as Ichigo "would have a wife and a child soon, so you will need the space more than an old man like me". It hurt to think he was taking away one of the things Isshin had left from his time being married to his mother- their bedroom.
Telling his sisters was somehow harder- he felt embarrassed and ashamed at it, having always wanted to have been a role model for the two of them. The two girls cried and clung to him, telling them that they loved him and would be there for him through it all.
His friends were mixed. No one seemed particularly happy. Ishida had choice words for him over the phone, calling him a "definitive piece of shit". Tatsuki had straight slapped him across the face, teary-eyed as she yelled furiously about how on earth he could simply 'let Orihime drop out of school to have a kid!" and all he could do was try to keep all his emotions from bubbling up at once as he yelled back that it wasn't his choice, it was hers.
In the end she wept while hugging him awkwardly, telling him that she was sorry and that she cared about them both. She just wanted Orihime to be happy. But would he be happy with this?
"It doesn't matter what I feel now... I have to do what's right... for the sake of my child."
It was then that it dawned on Tatsuki that things were really going to change, forever.
The wedding was set 3 months later, on a Saturday as Ichigo had to go to school on the weekdays. There was no time for a hall or a caterer- as they both agreed it should be done before the baby came. Orihime moved into the Kurosaki house almost immediately, having become unable to pay her rent, and needing help often as her feet began to swell constantly once she reached the fifth month.
There was no time or money for an expensive or elaborate wedding, the two of them being mere teenagers on the cusp of sudden adulthood. Orihime and Tatsuki spent any spare time Tatsuki had out of school to hunt for a dress she could wear for her wedding that wouldn't look completely tacky, especially considering she would be 6 months pregnant during. She had settled on a soft pink, knee-length taffeta dress. It was rather plain, but she was good with a needle after all, and would tailor it to fit her while also adding some beading on to the skirt.
The marriage was done in the courthouse, with Isshin and Ichigo's sisters present, before they all went back to the house for the small reception dinner. He had heard (in a whispered hush between Yuzu and Karin) that Rukia wouldn't be attending- she was ordered to remain on bed rest by her doctor, as she was nearly at the end of her own pregnancy.
He supposed it was better that way. Despite his very muddled, confused, mixed-up feelings towards Rukia, he didn't exactly want her to be there to witness this.
Life went on. He busied himself with attending school during the day, immediately going to work after, and coming home at 9:00 to study before dropping dead. It was hard to adjust to- having to deal with a whole new room, on top of having to share it with another person. Even though they were married, there had been nothing intimate between them more than a kiss at their wedding, and Orihime requesting that they stop calling each other by their last names and begin calling them by their first, as "regular couples do", which he would have laughed at if he didn't think it would upset her.
He could tell that she was trying hard to not be in the way too much, but without work or school, she had too much free time on her hands, and he suggested she look into hobbies she could take up in the meanwhile.
2 weeks into the wedding, Orihime had held her phone up excitedly to him to show him the text message she had received from Renji of all people. It was a photo of Rukia, in a hospital bed, holding a tiny baby. "They named her Ichika, after you! How sweet is that? Abarai-kun said you're the reason he and Rukia can be together now, which makes sense. Isn't she just darling? I hope Rukia-chan is doing okay, I've got to go see her as soon as possible!"
She continued to ramble on excitedly about how fun it was that they were both having kids at the same time, but Ichigo wasn't paying very much attention. He excused himself shortly on the reason of using the bathroom, but he only closed the door and leaned against the counter, eyes sinking closed.
Ichika.
Destiny surely had to be laughing at him now.
His own child came another 3 months after Rukia's daughter did. In the middle of the week, 12:00 in the day, when he was in the midst of classes he had gotten a call from his father, saying that Orihime's water had broken and he had already taken her to Karakura General. He arrived there 25 minutes later, a ball of twisting, anxious nerves.
This was it. He was going to become a father.
He had no idea what it would be- a boy or girl. She had decided against finding the gender out, instead opting to wait until the birth itself to find out. But through their short talks about it, he had questioned her about names, to which she had proclaimed Ringo for a girl- which he quickly tried to argue against as he did not want to continue the rather cheesy pattern of fruit-themed names that his parents had done with him and his sisters- and Kazui if it was a boy, which he only agreed to because it sounded more normal than Ringo did.
She was already 4 cm dilated, and apparently was progressing very fast. The stronger her contractions became, the more she cried, until she was 6 cm and was all but screaming in pain every time it hit her. She had turned to him then and yelled at him to call Tatsuki and ask her to come to the hospital, that she needed her to be there with her.
Ichigo had stuttered, "A-Are you sure- Tatsuki's probably in the middle of class-"
She had gotten annoyed at him a few times before, but he'd never seen her get straight pissed off at him, and she glared at him with almost-hate in her eyes and screamed at the top of her lungs, "CALL HER RIGHT NOW!"
Ichigo scuttled out of the room, pulling out the phone in his pocket with shaky fingers and immediately dialed his friend's number. He was right, Tatsuki was in the middle of class- but she held no hesitation in leaving what she was doing to go be with her best friend, scolding Ichigo on the phone as she rushed that he should have called her sooner.
It was only 3 hours later that the baby was born, with Orihime screaming a final, "Oh, god, I'm dying!" and Ichigo growing so pale he nearly fainted from fear.
And it was no wonder she had been screaming all that time- the newborn was a whole 10 lbs, 4 ounces, and declared "He's huge!" by the jovial young doctor who had delivered him. He was a complete clone of Orihime, from his facial features, to his hair and eyes. Orihime sobbed, Tatsuki sobbed, Ichigo was stunned into shock until Orihime weepily called out to him to come hold his son.
Ichigo sat down, petrified as Tatsuki moved over to his side to him Orihime move the baby from her arms to his. And when he did, and stared down at the little tiny boy asleep in his arms, he felt the smallest fire alight in his heart.
Kurosaki Kazui.