A.N.: This story was commissioned by Anonymous. Please PM if you're interested in having a paid commission done.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.

12 Brides and a Strawberry

Chapter Thirteen

Days later…
Karakura Town

The newly married Ichigo walked down the stone path in the middle of the park, his left hand feeling heavier from the weight of the gold band on his ring finger.

Once he and his first wife made it back from their honeymoon cabin, they'd been informed that Ichigo's wedding to his first Soul Reaper wife, Yoruichi, was set for tomorrow. Orihime had returned to the mansion to fix up her room a little more, having moved out of her apartment to live with Ichigo and the rest of the brides.

He wasn't surprised when he saw Sung-Sun sitting in their usual spot, the Arrancar smiling at her husband-to-be as he approached her. The olive-haired Arrancar wore a white dress along with a wide-brimmed hat with a purple flower on the side of it. "Welcome back."

"It's good to see you, Sung-Sun." Ichigo sat down on the bench and gave Sung-Sun a quick kiss on the cheek, making her blush from the affection. "Everything all right?"

"Oh, nothing's wrong. I just wanted to spend a little time with my future husband before you got back to the mansion. So, adjusted to the married life yet?"

Smiling, Ichigo looked down at his wedding ring and nodded. "Yeah. I've finally calmed down and stopped panicking inside my head. I'm starting to thinking that maybe this can all work out. I gotta say, Sung-Sun, I can't thank you enough for always lending an ear to me and being a good angel on my shoulder when I had doubts."

"I told you before, Ichigo: I'm here for you when you need me." Leaning close, the Arrancar shared a tender kiss with her future husband. But while her lips were being gender, her hands had other ideas. Seeing that the park was empty, Sung-Sun ran her soft hand along Ichigo's inner thigh until it reached his loins.

The kiss between them grew sloppy as soon as Sung-Sun's hand touched the bulge in his pants. Feeling kinky from Sung-Sun's sudden boldenss and also noticing they were alone, Ichigo let his hand travel up her side until it reached her soft breast, giving it a light squeeze and finding she wasn't wearing a bra.

The pair's heavy petting continued for several minutes. Just when Ichigo was about to pick Sung-Sun up and carry her to his room to continue this, the two were rudely interrupted by another of Ichigo's brides. "Yo! Ichigo! Glad you're back!"

Breaking the kiss, the two pulled away from each other and blushed when they turned and saw Bambietta walking towards them. Wearing a black tank top and jeans, the E Stern Ritter walked up to the bench, chuckling after watching the two making out. Ichigo started to feel uncomfortable at the tense silence that settled over them while Sung-Sun glared daggers at Bambietta for leaving her hot and frustrated.

The silence was thankfully broken when Ichigo's Quincy bride turned to face him. "Now that you're back, Ichigo, I can finally go and take you to Silbern. I ran it past Orihime, Yoruichi and Nel and they were all cool with it since Yoruichi's wedding is tomorrow and it'll keep your mind occupied until then."

"Silbern?"

"The home of the Vandenreich," explained the Stern Ritter. "I figured it might do you some good to get in touch with your Quincy heritage. Plus it'd let us have some one-on-one time," she added with a teasing smile.

Sung-Sun scowled. Not only had the girl interrupted their fun but now she was trying to make off with Ichigo and it made her all the more frustrated. "You're joking. Yhwach's castle was destroyed after Ichigo killed your king. What good is there to walk among its wreckage?" she said in a taunting tone.

Bambietta reciprocated her glare, finding her presence irritating. "Not exactly," she said before giving Ichigo a proper explanation. "His Majesty pulled Silbern up out of the Soul Society to form his Wahrwelt. But it was his power as the new Soul King that held it up. Once he died, the palace returned to the Schatten Bereich."

"I see…" Sung-Sun narrowed her eyes. "Well, if Ichigo's going then so will I."

Now it was Bambietta's turn to be frustrated from her fellow bride's obstinacy. "Excuse me?"

Hiding her smile behind her sleeve, Sung-Sun glared at Bambietta. "If you're going to ruin my time with Ichigo, then I have no problem ruining yours."

Ichigo started to sweat drop from their antics, wondering how he should handle this situation before it turned violent. His hand snuck into his back pocket to grab his combat pass in case he needed to break out his Soul Reaper form.

The tense standoff was broken when out of nowhere, another of Ichigo's brides showed up. "Wait, wait, WAIT! f you're going on vacation with Ichi-Berry, I wanna come too!"

The two girls jumped out of their skin when Ichigo's third Soul Reaper wife, Mashiro Kuna, jumped from seemingly thin air. "MASHIRO KICK!"

WHAM!

"YOW!" Ichigo staggered when his greenette bride gave him her signature Mashiro Kick, the Vizard landing between the two other girls. Mashiro was back in her old Gigai and wearing her old white bodysuit and orange scarf. "Mashiro! What the hell was that for?!" Ichigo shouted while holding his injured ribs.

"I heard you all were going on vacation so I got Kensei's permission to come along! There's no way I could pass up the chance to go skiing."

"Skiing?!" All three partners looked at the Vizard with confused expression. Bambietta crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "Why do you think we're doing skiing?" The Stern Ritter knew from the Vandenreich's Daten that Mashiro was an airhead but she had no idea how ditzy the girl was.

Balancing on the balls of her feet, Mashiro happily smiled at her former enemy. "Yeah, the Vandenreich is really icy right? It'd be the perfect place to go skating and skiing."

Bambietta's teeth clenched and she had to resist the urge to use the Explode to blow Mashiro's head off. Her goal of getting Ichigo alone and all to herself was failing. Taking a deep breath, the Quincy decided to run with the ball and try to make this work. "Okay fine. You can come too," she said, putting her hands on her hips. "But we aren't skiing."

"Aww!" Mashiro pouted like a child. "I wanted to go skiing…"

Sighing in exasperation, Bambietta pinched the bridge of her nose to try to maintain calm. "I'll…I'll see what I can do. I think Cang Du had some ice skates somewhere in his quarters."

"Yay!"

Sung-Sun nudged Ichigo's uninjured side. "Is she always like this?"

"Unfortunately…" said Ichigo.

"Oh. Goodie…"

Bambietta held up a hand. The shadows at their feet sprang up and enveloped the quartet, whisking them away to the dark shadowy world inside of the Soul Society…

Meanwhile…
Soul Society; Shihoin Manor

Yoruichi stood in the middle of her family's ceremony hall, coordinating with the servants as they made the final preparations for her wedding with Ichigo. "Okay. Make sure those flowers are spaced out properly," she told a servant, pointing at multiple pots of flowers.

"Yes ma'am."

As the servant went to go complete her task, Yoruichi's ears picked up footsteps coming towards her from behind. Turning around, she saw it was her little brother. "Oh hey, Yushiro. Everything alright?"

"Yeah." Yet despite what Yushiro just said, his face said otherwise. "Um…Sis, you mind speaking in private?"

"Sure. I could use a break."

Yoruichi followed her younger brother out of the hall, letting him lead her into the clan's gardens. Sitting on a stone bench, Yoruichi crossed her arms. "So what's up, Yushiro?"

Sighing, the current clan head looked at his sister with pleading eyes. "Sis, you sure you want to go through with this? I mean, being a part of a polygamous marriage with Quincies and Arrancars?" After learning about the truth of Ichigo's marriage to his sister, Yushiro had doubts about the whole affair. His concerns were specifically about Ichigo. "I don't think he's worthy of you," he confessed."

Yoruichi couldn't help but roll her eyes. This wasn't the first time they had this conversation and she was getting sick of it. "Yushiro, you wouldn't think the Soul King was worthy of me."

"Well he's not either!" Yushiro stomped his foot and pouted. With the way he threw tantrums, Yoruichi thought he'd make an ideal husband for Mashiro considering how childish they both could be.

Crossing her arms, Yoruichi narrowed her eyes. "Okay, Yushiro. You win. I'll go call Kyoraku and cancel the whole thing if you can do one little thing."

"Name it! I'll do it!" insisted Yushiro immediately, his eyes gleaming with eagerness.

"Go challenge Ichigo to a fight. You and him in one on one combat. If you win, I'll have Kyoraku annul the whole agreement right now."

Yushiro stiffened. As head of the Shihoin Clan, he was trained to fight and could hold his own against most opponents. But most opponents were not the man who defeated both Aizen and Yhwach. "I…uh…I would but…" Yushiro's face betrayed his unfortunate cowardice. "I've other clan matters to attend to, Sis, and I'm too busy to issue a challenge to him on such short notice."

"I see. Well then, I guess I'll just have to go through with marrying Ichigo," said the Flash Goddess with a knowing smile on her face.

Seeing that he was never going to win the argument, Yushiro hung his head and walked away. Yoruichi laughed to herself as he left the gardens. "I love you too, Yushiro," she said. Yoruichi understood her little brother was only speaking out of genuine concern for her. If the situation were reverse, Yoruichi knew she'd act the same way if Yushiro had to marry Rukia or Rangiku.

Sitting on the stone bench, Yoruichi tilted her head back and let the sun's rays shine down on her, closing her eyes to enjoy the sunshine and the sweet smell of the flowers around her. "Yoruichi Kurosaki," she quietly murmured. "Wow, that's a bit of a mouthful."

"You know, you could just keep your last name since the marriage is just supposed to be political."

Turning her head, Yoruichi saw Kisuke Urahara walking over to her. "Well, I would be lying if I said I agreed to marry Ichigo for just political reasons. You finally cleaned up the shop."

"Things smell a little mildew-y, but as long as we keep the windows open, it should go away." Walking over to the shopkeeper, Kisuke sat down next to his best friend on the stone bench. The two settled in a comfortable silence for a long minute as they enjoyed the presence of each other's company. Finally, Kisuke looked over at his friend and smiled. "You ready?"

Yoruichi couldn't hide her laugh. "Yes and no. I'm getting butterflies in my stomach with every passing second. I can't imagine how Orihime could take it."

"Orihime's a strong girl. She's a bit clueless, sure, but she's stronger than most of her friends give her credit for." Kisuke smiled for a moment before letting it drop. Taking off his hat and setting it down next to him, the former captain looked down at the ground before speaking. "How'd we get here?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, how did we reach this moment where I get to watch my best friend and the woman I care most for get married to my student who is hundreds of years younger than her and knowing I had a hand in letting it happen?" Kisuke looked back at Yoruichi and for the first time in a long while he showed an honest face. "I did not at all expect you to throw your hat into the ring when we discussed a Soul Reaper bride. It's not too late, you know? You could back out. I don't think Ichigo would blame you. You've got all the wedding decorations up but we can just have Mashiro or Rangiku's wedding here. Isane or Rukia could take your spot. Hell, give me an hour and I can convince Hiyori to marry him instead."

Reaching down, Yoruichi took hold of Kisuke's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Unfortunately, Kisuke, I have no intention of backing out. I'm a woman of my word. You know that. Yushiro knows that. Ichigo knows that. And what would be waiting for me if I did back out. You and I…we had our moment together and it came and went."

"I see…"

Leaning forward, Yoruichi smiled lovingly at her old friend and the pair shared a brief kiss. "I still love you. Nothing will change between us."

Kisuke squeezed her hand back. Giving his low laugh, Kisuke simply smiled. "What'd be waiting for you? One hell of a lonely time…" he confessed. Once, when he was a younger man, Kisuke had always imagined him being the one Yoruichi would be walking down the aisle for. But like Yoruichi had said: those days were far behind them and neither were the people they used to be, him especially.

"Will you tell him?" Kisuke asked out of curiosity.

"Mmmmhh…" Tilting her head back, Yoruichi thought about it. "I've gone back and forth on it. I mean, he's had to have had some suspicions but…yeah, I think I'll have a sit down with him at some point. I mean," looking back at Kisuke, she grinned. "I know about his exploits after all."

Laughing, Kisuke tapped his cane against the ground. "Yeah, that boy's a wonder. I know he'll make you happy more than I ever could, Yoruichi."

Laying her head on her best friend's shoulder, Yoruichi smiled. "Don't worry, Kisuke. You still make me happy in your own annoying way."

"Hah! I'll take it."

The two continued sitting there, enjoying each other's company for the moment while it lasted…

Meanwhile…

Schatten Bereich; Silbern

"Wow, this place is wrecked!" Mashiro noted as they walked around what was left of Silbern.

"Well, what did you expect? His Majesty and Ichigo did go pretty hard at each other when they threw down," pointed out Bambietta as they walked down a hallway towards her old quarters. "Just be grateful it was only the throne room and everything above it that got destroyed."

Despite insisting that Silbern was fine, the evidence spoke for itself. The icy castle was a shell of its former self. Ichigo was reminded of Las Noches after the Quincies invaded Hueco Mundo and how it hung open like a rotting wound.

Sung-Sun said nothing as they walked, her sleeve over her mouth covering the scowl affixed to her face. This was the place where her master had been imprisoned after Yhwach defeated her at the start of the Vandenreich's rampage. Halibel had never said anything about her time in captivity but the look on her face when she thought nobody was looking told Sung-Sun volumes.

Sitting down on a flat piece of rubble, Bambietta shrugged. "Well there's still plenty of ice around. Cang Du's room is that way." Bambietta cocked a thumb in the direction of the hallway. "Pretty sure he's got a pair of skates somewhere. Though I doubt they'd fit someone who wears clodhoppers like those."

Ignoring the obvious jab, Mashiro hurried down the hallway towards the fallen Stern Ritter's room to try to pilfer her prize. Sung-Sun eyed Bambietta suspiciously before following Mashiro, leaving Ichigo alone with his Quincy bride.

Sitting on the rock next to her, Ichigo sat in uncomfortable silence as they waited for the two girls to get back. "Um…Bambietta?"

"What?"

"Um…I've been meaning to ask…what's with the whole "praying mantis" behavior that Candice mentioned earlier?"

Sighing, Bambietta turned away, showing her back to Ichigo. "Ichigo, you honestly could never comprehend someone like me. So don't bother. I ain't Candi. I am what I am."

"And that is?"

Silence filled the empty ruins. For a few minutes Bambietta refused to answer. Turning back to her future husband, Bambietta stared at his honest face and felt something within her crack. "Someone who can't stand being inferior to anyone. As far as I was concerned, anyone and everyone was just something for me to use and then dispose of. Men especially. So many of those dumb Soldat men looked at me like some schoolgirl to bend over on prom night. I took every chance I got to tempt them into thinking they'd actually get to screw me. And yet despite my reputation, there wasn't a single one who entered my bedroom who wasn't happy as a jaybird. If you're asking me if I feel guilty for killing them, the answer is a hard no, Ichigo. I don't weep for the stupid; I'd be crying all day otherwise."

"I see…" Ichigo looked down at the ground for a moment while letting his thoughts settle. "So then…do you feel inferior to me?"

Bambietta didn't answer at first. Resting her head on her hands, the Stern Ritter joined him in staring awkwardly at the ground. "Kinda? How could I not? There isn't anyone alive who is superior to you. I mean, yeah, you lost to Halibel but that was more because you refused to fight seriously. So of course I feel inferior to you. But you don't look at me like most of the Vandenreich did," she confessed. "You look at me like I'm a person, not a monster or just a pair of legs to spread." Bambietta cocked her thumb over in the direction where Mashiro trotted off in. "I assume that's why you've got her as a wife? Because she totally gives off the vibe of being an absolute freak in the sheets."

Scratching the back of his head, Ichigo looked down the hallway awkwardly. "I didn't exactly choose anyone to marry me. When Kyoraku made the pitch, Mashiro made the offer along with Rangiku and Yoruichi."

"Hmph. At least she had the option of choosing to marry you. You know what I was doing when Candi and Meni signed me away? Stinking up the place with my corpse."

"You don't have to get married, Bambi. I wouldn't force it on you any more than I would force this on Sung-Sun or Mashiro," insisted Ichigo.

Bambietta let the idea of backing out of the marriage roll around in her head for a while. True, she had her life back and she owed Candice and the others nothing; they only had Kisuke bring her back to life so that Ichigo didn't marry a zombie. She could walk away and live out her life on her terms.

And yet…

Looking at Ichigo and seeing perhaps the first man in her life to treat her like a decent human being, Bambietta would be lying if she wasn't becharmed by him, at least a little. "No. I…want to see where this goes," she confessed, scooting closer to her future husband. "I don't…I don't know where I'd go even if I left." Looking out at the ruins of Silbern, for the first time Bambietta felt the weight of the Vandenreich's defeat sink in. "I've got nothing left, Ichigo. Hell, what am I even supposed to do now that the other Stern Ritters and Yhwach are gone? I came back to life and have literally been left with nothing."

Ichigo put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her, not knowing what exactly to say to console her. To his surprise, aid came from the last person he expected. "Hey! Cheer up!" Jumping over the sitting girl, Mashiro landed in front of her and gave her a happy smile. "Me, Shinji and the rest of the Vizards know exactly how you feel!"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

Bending forward so that she and Bambietta were looking eye to eye, the cheery lieutenant continued to smile at her fellow bride. "Over a hundred years ago, I lost everything because of Sosuke Aizen. My home, my friends, my sister and my role as a lieutenant. All of it were gone in one night. Aizen used us as a sick experiment for his Hollowfication. We survived because of Kisuke, but when we came to, we found that we had to go on the run with nothing but the clothes on our backs for decades."

Ichigo listened to the greenette intently. In all the time that he knew Mashiro, he'd never heard her speak so seriously. Her expression was uncharacteristically sad, showing that she was being heartfelt with the Stern Ritter. Bambietta could likewise tell Mashiro was actually being serious and continued listening. "How'd you cope?"

"Well, it wasn't easy. I cried myself to sleep for months as we went from place to place, never staying too long in one spot out of fear that the Soul Society, or worse Aizen, would find us. But we pulled through because we had each other to lean on." Mashiro's smile returned to her face. "Just like you have Ichigo to lean on now! Sure, we may have been enemies but that doesn't mean we can't help each other when we're down!"

The sincerity in Mashiro's eyes threatened to make Bambietta tear up. She remembered the way her so-called "friends" interacted with her; none of them ever showed her this much kindness. "Thanks, Mashiro…"

An elbow nudged her unoccupied side. "She's right. Lady Halibel, Nelliel and I know what it's like to be left with nothing and have to start over from scratch. So you don't need to be afraid of what to do."

Bambietta gave the Arrancar a rare smile. "Thanks," she said softly.

The moody atmosphere came to an end when Mashiro clapped her hands. "Okay! So then…who's up for skating? We found a bunch of ice skates in that room."

Ichigo and Bambietta looked at each other before looking over at Sung-Sun, who gave them an encouraging smile. "That'd be great, Mashiro." Standing up, the three followed Mashiro down the hallway to find the skates, the greenette lieutenant eager to get her "vacation" started…

To be continued

Omake

The Collection

Back at the mansion, Liltotto was busy bringing in some fresh groceries for the kitchen when she heard weird noses coming from the parlor. Curious, she set down her bag and left the kitchen, sticking her head into the parlor entryway. "Askin? The hell are you doing? And why are you wearing that white Shihakusho?"

"Oh, hello, Liltotto." Askin had converted the parlor into his own photo studio, standing in front of white backdrop. "Just working on the Bambi's wedding present."

"By dressing as Sosuke Aizen?"

Dressed in one of the villain's old outfits, Askin merely nodded. "Well, you know how Bambi always said I looked like Aizen? Well, I decided to go along with the joke and pose for a photo album called the Aizen collection. I call this one 'Aizen…but Quincy." Turning back to the camera, he gave an angry expression before hitting the switch in his hand to activate the camera, the light flashing brightly for a moment as it took his picture. "I call that one 'Angry Soul Reaper Aizen.' And I think I'll do 'Askin as Aizen…but serious…but not as serious as Aizen.' Perfect, don't you think?"

Liltotto slowly backed away from the man, turning around and heading back to the kitchen. Candice entered through the side door. "What the hell is that fruit loop doing now?" she demanded, seeing more flashes go off in the parlor.

"Something that Bambi is either going to laugh at or piss her off. Either way, I do not want any part in it and neither should you."

Candice's curiosity got the better of her and she left the kitchen to poke her head into the parlor. She came back seconds later with a disturbed expression. "Okay, next round table we have, I'm introducing a new rule for the house: Askin is not allowed to dress up. That's too creepy."

"Agreed."

END