A.N.: This story was commissioned by Anonymous. Please see my bio page for information if you were looking to commission a story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach

Chapter Eleven

Ichigo's Manor

"You!" Ichigo stared in shock from seeing the D Stern Ritter sitting across from Yoruichi, calmly sipping a cup of coffee. "Didn't Grimmjow kill you?"

"Nice to see you too, Ichigo Kurosaki," said the Quincy before turning to the two girls standing next to him, his eyes first landing on Meninas. "Hello there, Meninas. I'd thought His Majesty killed you with the Auswahlen. Hmm?" The poisonous man turned his gaze to Riruka. "And who is this young lady? I don't believe we've met."

"That's Riruka, Ichigo's Fullbringer bride," Yoruichi explained. Turning her head back towards the trio, she gestured to several seats nearby. "Ichigo, why don't you take a seat while the girls go put their clothes away."

The pink and magenta-haired girls looked at each other curiously before complying with the Flash Goddess's request. While they went down the hall towards their bedrooms, Ichigo pulled up a seat next to his bride and stared at Askin. "Okay, spill it. How are you still alive?"

"Same reason Bambi is still alive."

"Kisuke?"

"Bingo."

Ichigo looked over at Yoruichi for an explanation, but the ex-Soul Reaper merely shrugged. "Apparently after the battle was over, Kisuke retrieved his body to keep it out of Mayuri's clutches and kept him on ice. After bringing Bambietta back to life, he started work on reviving him."

"Okay but...why?"

Yoruichi simply smiled and threw her hands up. "I guess he liked him."

Askin simply smirked before setting down his cup of coffee. "What can I say? I have a great personality."

Scratching the back of his head, Ichigo shrugged. "I guess it's fine. You didn't seem like a bad guy to me."

"That's what I said," Yoruichi added. "Kisuke thought the same as well. Anyway, he's going to be staying with us here at the manor."

"Wait, what?!"

Pouring himself another cup of coffee from a thermos sitting on the coffee table, Askin took a sip before he explained himself. "Well with Wahrwelt gone, I'm technically homeless. Liltotto and Giselle have already taken the safe house in Karakura Town and I'm currently jobless so I can't so much as get a motel room for the night."

"That's when Kisuke and I came up with a plan. We've enough space in here for more than just us. At least, until we start having to fix up rooms for babies."

"Babies?!" Ichigo went pale, that nightmare he'd had coming back to him.

"A little late to be getting cold feet, boy," said Askin, playfully chastising Ichigo. "Might as well get a head start and practice changing diapers. Anyway, you have nothing to worry about. I have no intention of being a free loader in someone else's house. Especially with that loudmouth, Bambi, under the same roof. I've decided to go into business."

"Really? What?"

Sitting back in her chair, Yoruichi casually smiled. "Kisuke's going to help Askin open his own cafe."

"Well, that checks out..."

"So anyway." Setting down his empty cup, the resurrected Stern Ritter sat back in his chair and looked at the young Soul Reaper. "Tomorrow's the big day, eh?"

The blood rushed back to Ichigo's face, once again reminded that tomorrow was the day he and Orihime tied the knot. "Y-yeah. Um...Yoruichi? When's our wedding?"

Yoruichi could see Ichigo trying to shift the conversation and decided to play along since he was already under enough pressure. "You'll get married tomorrow, have a few days to honeymoon with her and spend some quality time together. When you get back, it's off to the Soul Society for our wedding. Yushiro's got it all set up." Remembering that Askin was in the room, Yoruichi decided to address an issue since she knew the man was probably thinking it. "Sorry, Askin but-"

"It's fine." The Quincy put a hand up to stop her. "I did almost kill you and your..."

"What?"

"Are we sure that Yushiro is a boy?" Askin asked with a raised eyebrow.

Laughing, Yoruichi simply shrugged again. "Oh, trust me, you aren't the only person to wonder that. Ichigo also was wondering about Yushiro's gender after they first met. Right, Ichigo?"

"What? I never said anything!" Ichigo quickly said.

"Oh please. It was written all over your face when you first saw him."

The front door opened, interrupting the trio's conversation. Turning around, Ichigo saw Orihime walk into the room. To his surprise, he saw that she'd brought company with her. "Rukia? Renji?"

"Hey, Ichigo." Rukia walked past Orihime and tapped her friend on the shoulder. "You got a place we can talk? We wanted to talk with you before your big day. Oh." Noticing Askin, Rukia turned towards him. "And you are?"

"Askin Nak La Var. You must be Rukia Kuchiki."

Rukia's lips quickly formed a scowl upon hearing Askin's name. Uryu had told her about Yhwach's royal guard and about how the man had nearly killed Yoruichi, Yushiro, Kisuke and Grimmjow. "I take it Kisuke brought you back too?"

"Indeed."

An angry voice came from behind the lieutenant. "Seriously? Kisuke brought back another of you bastards?! What the hell is he thinking?!"

"And you must be Renji Abarai." Askin could already tell that Renji was going to be a problem. "But I'm just here as a houseguest. I have no intention of interfering with this little marriage plan you've embroiled Ichigo Kurosaki in. In fact, I find the idea of Bambi getting hitched hilarious. Oh," Askin quickly turned his gaze back to the Substitute for a brief moment. "Out of courtesy I should probably warn you about Bambi. Whenever she got agitated, she'd invite men to her room for stress relief. It proved to be quite fatal for them..."

A shiver ran up Ichigo's spine. Askin's confession only seemed to fuel Renji's anger, however, and he stomped forward. "You open your mouth again and I'll put you back in the gra-"

"RENJI!" Rukia's shout echoed throughout the foyer while she glared daggers at her boyfriend. "You promised you'd control your temper!"

Gritting his teeth, Renji angrily turned away from the toxic Stern Ritter. "Fine. Wonder who else that madman has on ice..." he grumbled to himself.

Yoruichi scowled at the irritated redhead before looking back to Ichigo. "You'd better go see what they're here for. I'll help show Askin to his room."

Nodding, Ichigo excused himself and stood up, leading his three friends into the conference room while Askin and Yoruichi left the manor's foyer.

Ichigo sat down on one side of the round table while Orihime sat next to him. Rukia took a seat at the opposite side of the table, Renji sitting down next to her. "So, what did you guys want to talk about?"

"I'm here because I wanted to show Orihime my dress before the wedding. I'm one of her bridesmaids, after all. He..." Rukia cocked a thumb over at Renji. "He's been biting at the bit to come talk to you after he made an ass of himself back at Squad Six."

Renji angrily stared at his girlfriend. "I did not make an ass of myself. I was making a point!"

"You were making a point by making an ass of yourself."

"Hmph!" Taking a breath, Renji made an attempt to calm down before looking up at the groom-to-be at the other side of the table. "Look. Ichigo. I'm sorry about what I said earlier. I get it. You didn't really have much of a say in it. I can accept that this all happened without your dad or the Head-Captain telling you or even asking if you were okay with this. Alright?"

The Substitute nodded in gratitude. It was a relieving to hear that Renji accept the fact that Ichigo had been thrust into this chaos without his consent.

"But..."

The two humans and the female lieutenant could sense the shift in Renji's tone and could already tell this wasn't going to be good. "I still can't accept you marrying those Quincy girls. And I don't believe you should too. If you go to the Head-Captain, I'm sure you can convince him to call off the Quincy part of the marriage deal. We don't owe them anything. You don't owe them anything."

Beneath the table, Ichigo's hands balled into fists so tight they were becoming white-knuckled. "Are you serious?"

"I am. I know you still need a best man for Lady Yoruichi's wedding. Refuse to marry those Quincy whores and I'll be your best man."

All three of Renji's friends sat there in disbelief from Renji's ultimatum. Rukia could only shake her head in disgust from her boyfriend's selfish behavior. "Renji, you said when you wanted to apologize for being an asshole, I didn't think you'd apologize by being an even bigger asshole," she grumbled while looking away from him, starting to feel ashamed at herself for bringing him here.

"I'm serious!" Renji slammed his hand on the table.

Ichigo stood up, glaring daggers at his friend. "Renji. I know you're angry at the Vandenreich for all they did to the Soul Society. I get it. But I've talked to them. I've gotten to know Meninas, Candice and Bambietta. I don't consider them to be my enemies any more than I did Uryu after he pulled that stunt with the Hollow bait when I first discovered he was a Quincy. I don't feel ashamed marrying them anymore and if you can't accept that, then I feel sorry for you."

Renji bristled with anger when Ichigo walked out of the room. "Hey! Come back here! We aren't done yet!"

"Renji, you need to calm down."

"Rukia, how can you be so calm about this?!" yelled the lieutenant.

Rukia silenced her boyfriend by slamming her palm on the table. "Renji! I was nice enough to let you come with me since you said you wanted to apologize! But you're being unreasonable and just an absolute prick! Either cool off or go home!"

Orihime remained silent, feeling sorry for Rukia after seeing what she had to put up with. Renji simply got out of his chair and stomped out of the room, heading back to Urahara Shop where he was staying for the night. "He's really angry," Orihime finally said after Renji slammed the door behind him.

Rukia put a hand to her forehead and sighed in exasperation. "I'm so sorry about that, Orihime. I wouldn't have brought him if I'd realized he was just going to make such an ass of himself right before your big day."

"It's alright. I'm sure he'll come around eventually." Getting up, the orangette walked around the table and put a hand on her shoulder. "Come on. Why don't you show me that dress you picked out?"

Meanwhile...

Ichigo walked along the riverbank, hands in his pockets while watching the crystal waters run by him. Renji's words had gotten to him more than he'd cared to admit. After hearing Candice's story of how she was abused by another Stern Ritter, and the fate of Bambietta, it was hard to feel any real anger for them anymore after he got to know them better.

Putting Renji's cruel words out of his mind, Ichigo focused on tomorrow. That, however, only caused the knot in his stomach to return. He loved Orihime and she loved him but he was sure that neither of them wanted to get married like this.

Stopping and looking out across the water, Ichigo sighed. "Guess it's too late to get cold feet now..."

"You? Getting cold feet? That's a first."

Ichigo turned to see Tatsuki standing behind him, smiling warmly at her best friend as she walked up to him. "Tatsuki? How'd you know I was here?"

The long-haired noirette simply smiled while she stood next to her future husband, looking out across the water. "Orihime texted me. She told me about what happened with Renji."

"Okay but...how'd you know I'd be here?"

Tatsuki sat down on the grass and patted the spot next to her to signal her best friend to join her. "Come on, Ichigo. Whenever you're feeling down or anxious, you always come here to think."

Ichigo took a seat next to her, feeling better just being near his friend. "You know me so well, huh?"

"We've been friends since..." Tatsuki looked up at the sky for a moment and paused before turning back to Ichigo. "You know, I honestly can't recall before we became best friends. But we've been friends for so long, I know how you think." Laying her head on Ichigo's shoulder, she settled into a comfortable silence. "You're pretty nervous about marrying Orihime."

The girl's warmth helped soothe Ichigo's nerves and he took her hand, sliding his fingers in between hers and giving it a squeeze. "Yeah. Can't believe I'm getting married tomorrow."

"I know you'll be a good husband to her, Ichigo. You're a good man." Tatsuki squeezed his hand back.

"Thanks, Tatsuki. I promise...I promise I'll be a good husband to you too."

"I know you will." Tatsuki turned her head and gave Ichigo a quick kiss on the cheek. Taking enjoyment in each other's presence, the two continued to sit there for a while longer, just taking in the moment.

Meanwhile...
Ichigo's Manor

Stepping out of her bedroom, Orihime readied to head over to Uryu's to see her finished wedding dress. She'd no doubt that her good friend would deliver on something she'd be proud to wear for her big day. "I should also check on Chizuru and the others and see if they'll want a girls' night before the wedding."

"Hey, Orihime."

Startled, Orihime turned around to see Renji walking down the hallway towards her. "Renji? Um...Rukia left a few minutes ago. I think she went to go get lunch."

"It's alright. I'm not that hungry. Listen..." The irritated look in his eyes told Orihime that the lieutenant was still angry about the situation. "Can't you talk to Ichigo about this? I mean, marrying those Quincies...it's wrong. I'm sorry but I am not budging on this issue. I'm not okay with my friend agreeing to marry three women who've tried to kill us all." Renji's temper once again got the better of him and his voice grew louder. "Orihime, how the hell are you okay with this? You almost got killed by that monster, Yhwach! And you're okay with the man you love marrying three people who worked for him? They're the enemy!"

Renji was surprised when the orangette failed to respond, merely narrowing her eyes at him in a manner that was quite uncharacteristic of her. After letting the silence following his tirade linger in the hallway for a minute, Orihime said three simple words.

"Ichigo's left shoulder."

The sentence took Renji off guard. "What? What does Ichigo's shoulder have to do with anything?"

"On Ichigo's left shoulder, there's a deep scar. I asked him once where some of his scars came from. He said that the one on his shoulder came from you. From when you tried to kill him."

"Th-that was different!"

Crossing her arms, Orihime simply glared at the lieutenant. "Really? So, you trying to kill Ichigo back then and being friends with him now is different from Candice and Meninas trying to kill him back then and becoming friends with him now?"

Despite Orihime pointing out his blatant hypocrisy, the angry lieutenant stomped his foot in defiance. "THAT WAS DIFFERENT!" His scream echoed throughout the manor. His hand reached out to grab Orihime's arm. "AM I THE ONLY ONE HERE THAT HASN'T LOST THEIR GODDAMN MIND?!"

"Hey! Let go of me!"

Before Renji could do anything else, two streaks of light whizzed by Renji's head, missing him by just inches. Turning to see what'd almost hit him, the Soul Reaper saw it was two Quincy Heilig Pfeils. One was pink and looked like it was made out of hearts, the other was yellow and had what looked like a chain-chomp at the tip.

"Let go of her. The next ones won't miss."

Letting go of Orihime, Renji whirled around to see Liltotto and Meninas standing at the end of the hallway. Both had their bows drawn and ready to fire more arrows at the Soul Reaper. "What are you two doing here?"

"We live here too, you dolt," Liltotto spat out the lollipop in her mouth and drew back on her bow. "Meninas was helping me move my stuff into my room. I was going to get acquainted with the kitchen when we heard you screaming like an idiot."

"I am so sick of all of you! You think you get to marry my friend and get to ride off into the sunset? Have an easy life?" Renji was ready to pop out of his Gigai and give the two women the same fate he gave to Mask de Masculine.

"What rock have you been living under?" Meninas gestured to the scars she still had from Mayuri's experimentations. "We haven't exactly had it easy. You know what it's like to be dead?"

"No but why don't I ask Captain Hitsugaya? Maybe you two can compare notes?!" spat Renji. He reached into his pocket to pull out his Gikongai dispenser. Before he could take the pill though, a hand reached from out of nowhere and grabbed his ear. "Yow!"

"I'm gone for twenty minutes and you're acting like an even bigger jackass." The nerve on Rukia's forehead twitched while she twisted Renji's ear, a bag of takeout food in her free hand. "You are going back to Urahara's. You can decide to be an adult like the rest of us and coat check the attitude for tomorrow or you can go home."

"Rghh! Fine!" Slapping Rukia's hand off his ear, the lieutenant turned around and stormed out of the hallway, slamming the front door to the manor behind him. "Sorry about that, you guys. Orihime, how's your arm?"

"It's fine. I'm sure he just needs time to cool off."

Returning their bows to their belt buckles, the two Quincies walked closer to the girls. "That fried chicken? I'm starving," Liltotto said with her mouth watering from the smell.

"Yeah. Let's eat."

Orihime looked around and noticed something. "Hey, has anyone seen Halibel or Nel? I was hoping we'd go look at our dresses together."

"I'm pretty sure they're still in Hueco Mundo," Meninas said as they headed for the dining room.

Liltotto shrugged before sneaking a chicken leg out of the bag. "Aw well. More chicken for us."

Meanwhile...

While Ichigo and Tatsuki were enjoying each other's company, Halibel was glad to see her betrothed be soothed before his big day.

Sung-Sun hid her smile from behind her sleeve. "They make a cute couple. But Master Halibel, if you thought Ichigo was having problems, why didn't you go down there?"

"It's important that we give him space to figure things out for himself. I saw Tatsuki nearby and figured she'd be able to speak more comfortably than you or I could. Still, we'll keep an eye on him and help him whenever we can."

Halibel's subordinate nodded, looking down at her husband-to-be and felt a little jealous from seeing him with Tatsuki. But she understood the special relationship that she had with Ichigo and wouldn't begrudge her of that.

"Come on. Let's go check on our dresses. I'm interested in seeing what the Quincy has made."

The two Arrancar turned and left the teens, both eager to see how tomorrow was going to play out...

To be continued...

Omake

That Tattoo

Later that night...
Ichigo's Manor

"Hey, Yoruichi?"

Turning around, Yoruichi saw Ichigo come into her bedroom. "Oh hey, Ichigo? Not going to have dinner? We got more chicken."

"Oh, I'm going to eat in a minute. I just wanted to ask you something while you were alone. So...I got to talking to Askin and he said something about you having a tattoo? He was quite vague about it."

Yoruichi's cheeks blushed for a few seconds before she smiled. "Of course he'd noticed that while we were in the middle of killing each other. Yeah, I've got a tattoo on my ass. Kisuke and I got drunk one day and I dared him to put it on me."

"Uh...wait, I've seen you naked before. I don't recall you having a tattoo on your butt," Ichigo pointed out, remembering when Yoruichi first revealed her true identity as well as when they bathed together.

"That's easy. Kisuke mixed the ink with a special blend of his own so that it only shows when spirit energy is injected into it. Back when Askin had me on the ropes, I was on my hands and knees and the pervert gave me an antitoxin right on the tattoo which made it visible for a few minutes. Why? You wanna see it?"

Before Ichigo could give an answer, the werecat turned around and pulled her pants down. Shifting her panties to the side, Yoruichi raised a finger which started to glow as her fingertip filled with spirit energy. Pressing her finger into her left butt cheek, Yoruichi revealed the tattoo to Ichigo. Leaning forward, Ichigo saw letters in bold print appear on the Flash Goddess's ass and read them aloud.

"God of Thunder?"

"It was a joke that Kisuke came up with."

"Wait, why 'God of Thunder'? You're the Flash Goddess, aren't you?"

"Well, that's my official nickname. Kisuke named me the 'God of Thunder' because of something else."

"Really? Why?"

Grinning, Yoruichi pulled her panties down and started to work her ass up and down, twerking right in front of her future husband, her cheeks clapping louder and louder...

Meanwhile...

The brides, Liltotto and Askin were all in the dining room eating their dinner when a strange noise started to fill the area. Orihime put a hand to her ear, confusion written all over her face. "Is that...thunder?"

The sound of thunderclaps grew and grew until the whole building shook. Everyone cried out in shock when a wall burst open and Ichigo was sent flying into the room, landing on the table with a thud and causing everyone to jump up in alarm. "Ichigo? Are you okay?"

Unfortunately, Ichigo couldn't hear a word Orihime was saying, his ears ringing from being blasted by what felt like a sonic boom. "Hey, Askin?"

"Yes?" responded the D Stern Ritter, having saved his plate from going flying and holding it up.

"Do me a favor and text Kisuke. I think I got the joke...

END