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"So what are you going to do?"

"Hm?" Orihime looked up, still not having had her fill of Kirio-san's banquet. The cook walked out of the room, and would return minutes later, announcing that there was more and more to eat. Orihime was the only one to cheer endlessly at this announcement. Riruka had sat with her some time, sticking to desserts, but had eaten herself into a sugar coma and nearly face-planted in her third strawberry shortcake if Orihime hadn't caught her.

She's worried about Kurosa… I mean—Blushing again—Ichigo-kun…

Riruka-chan always thought she was being sly about her concern for her husband, but there was no way even a dense person could miss how she watched him constantly out of the corner of her eye.

"Don't hm?!" Tatsuki slammed her hands down on the table, sitting across from Orihime to have a very serious talk. She had eaten despite her own fullness; the plump purple-haired woman's food was out of this world in flavor. But to get to more important matters than if her cravings could surpass the fullness of her stomach, she confronted Orihime whose gluttony had no bounds. "When Ichigo gets back! What are you going to do?"

Orihime stared at her, her mouth stuffed with noodles that hung to the plate.

Tatsuki groaned loudly in exasperation, her brain stinging. She turned away and told Orihime to hurry up. After a loud, wet, cheerful slurp, Orihime eased her chopsticks down to give her full attention to the conversation instead of her appetite. "Ichigo's gonna show up at any time, right?"

Orihime nodded, adding, "I-I just hope he'll be alright. It's a pretty far way to fall…"

"Never mind that! If he's hurt, you can just use your powers to fix him, can't you? Stop worrying about the small stuff!" Tatsuki's impatience was showing. She stood up and leaned right across the table as if their conversation needed to be private. "I'm asking what you're going to do about all these other wives. I mean, you've got the body"—She didn't even need to look at the scandalous white outfit that made Orihime's breasts a priority—"but a lot of these other women…" She looked around. The bustiest was definitely the beautiful blonde who was giving Ichigo's dad a hard time, screeching about paperwork piling up. Though her 'charm' was extraordinary, Tatsuki felt that Ichigo could count himself lucky that she wasn't a wife. But Tatsuki had seen the purple-haired cook slimmed down, and it seemed like all of her extra weight had just been repurposed to her bust and hips. Truthfully, the big-breasted idol of Karakura High was really just some slightly-gifted girl in a bigger world after all! Even the tall, slender wife who always hunched to try to compensate her unladylike height! Tatsuki had enough experience with concealing her own breasts to know that she wasn't as petite as she would seem.

And there was also her.

Tatsuki looked suspiciously, and Orihime followed her gaze down the table. They were not the only ones who still had an interest in eating, but she was refined, requesting a knife and fork and spoon for her cutlery, as well as specialties from Western menus. Kirio-san proved herself adept at changing up to suit the requests of her diners, but the woman's poise was immaculate.

"What's with her, anyway?" asked Tatsuki with no small amount of suspicion as the pink-haired Quincy cut into her oversized meat. She looked more like the type of woman who would ask only for a salad at a restaurant, not a three-pound steak with a side of potatoes, onion rings, pork cutlets, and the like. Her mannerisms and her appetite just didn't seem to match.

"What do you mean?" asked Orihime, whose chopsticks were smuggling another helping of noodles to her mouth.

Her ignorance was astounding sometimes. "Obviously, wasn't she a bad guy not too long ago? She even attacked you and the princess earlier!" Tatsuki explained with a gesture to the girl next to Orihime, passed out in a fit of sugary dreams of strawberries. "You guys really just expect to trust her?"

Orihime had to suck up the noodles quick or face a reprimand from her friend. But after her mouthful went down, she smiled at Tatsuki-chan. "Of course! When we first showed up in Soul Society to save Kuchiki-san, we became friends with Rangiku-san and all of the Shinigami."

"Yeah," Tatsuki half-agreed, having heard the story of their journey to this other world before, "but this is different. These guys tried to…"

"If you're going to keep talking about me"—Meninas lowered her fork and knife and turned to Tatsuki—"I'm going to throw you out the window. It's very annoying."

Though believing that she'd been keeping her voice rather low in the commotion of so many people, Tatsuki flushed at the threat. Sure, the pink-haired aristocratic woman was bigger, but Tatsuki had hurled bigger than her before! "What's that? You think you can take me on?!"

Meninas went back to gingerly cutting her steak, which only provoked Tatsuki's anger.

However, the raging girl at her side was not an issue when, on Meninas's left behind her, she had to listen to her annoying friend. "Hey, Meni! Stop talking with those kids and give me some food!" Candice tried her bonds again, but any restraints of Squad Zero's make were not meant to be taken lightly. "Dammit! I know you can hear me, you dumb bitch!" And though she definitely could hear, Meninas continued her dining in peace now that there wasn't anything being said about her, preferring that things be said to her.

But if she was going to be like that, Tatsuki decided to gauge her at least; for Orihime's sake. She disregarded the earlier challenge of who would go out the window in a scuffle and asked, "So what's your angle?"

Meninas just continued to eat, grabbing a bit of baked potato this time.

"You just agreed to be Ichigo's wife. You think that's going to make you less suspicious to us?"

Again, the utensils were lowered, and Meninas gave Tatsuki her full attention. There was a long pause; Tatsuki was awaiting something very poignant to answer her, but what she got was: "I should live in a castle."

"Wha-What's that?!" Tatsuki might've breathed fire from how angry the answer made her.

"Mm!" Orihime nodded while chewing some fish. "That's a good reason!"

"No, it's not!" Tatsuki threw herself back down in her seat, griping to herself and putting her cheek in her hand. "Jeez, what's up with all of you being weirdos?" Riruka was roped into that category. Hmph! Three princesses at a table with a roaring dragon while thunder continued to blaze on the outskirts.

Drinking her soup, Orihime sighed. After the prayer of gratitude for such a wonderful meal, she grabbed a bowl of pork that Tatsuki had ignored and stood up. Tatsuki's eyes followed her, curious. "Huh? Where are you going?" She made a move to stand up and follow, but Orihime wasn't leaving or anything; just coming around the table, behind Meninas, kneeling in front of Candice.

Candice pulled back slightly. All her shouting to Meninas, Liltotto, and Giselle hadn't gotten so much as a glance from any of the three, so what was this sow doing in front of her?! Going to eat the whole bowl while she was forced to watch?!

"Here."

Candice blinked when the slab of pork was held up to her mouth gently in offering.

"You're hungry, right?"

Again, Candice blinked, and it wasn't because they were enemies not too long ago. It was because… no one did anything nice for another. At least, that was how it was in the Stern Ritter and especially the Bambies.

So she became defensive, curling back and growling like some caged animal. "Just what are you trying to pull?"

Orihime just continued to smile at her. "You said you wanted food. Here." She moved a little closer with the food, and still Candice did not take it. She decided to introduce herself. "I'm Inoue Orihime."

"I know that!" barked Candice, who had done enough research on Kurosaki Ichigo's Daten to know his closest friends. Of course, the intelligence would have to be updated now that she was a wife of Kurosaki's.

Her stomach growled then, but she resisted. Dumb bitch! Wanting food and wanting to complain about wanting food were two very different things! If she complained and remained unfulfilled – as the Bambies always did to each other – it made it easier to backstab! This idiot was ruining it! Hunger made it much easier to be angry!

"Don't get too friendly with her," Meninas called back without turning from her plate. "Candi-chan prefers girls like you~"

"Shut up!" roared Candice, who then sunk her teeth into the pork, tore it out of the chopsticks, and ate savagely. She gulped, demanded "More!", and gnawed down another helping. And despite the contrast of manners from her pink-haired comrade, Orihime smiled and was happy to help. "It's nice to meet you, Candi-chan," she said, and then was told to shut up and give another piece of meat.

Watching the communion of human and Quincy, Ichibe grinned from his corner of the room. Tenjiro stood aside him, lazing about as always. Big gatherings weren't his thing; he was more about being the center of attention instead of mingling. Oh-Etsu, on the other hand, excelled at that, jumping from lady group to lady group, suggesting that they check out the amazing Pheonix Palace some time and took especially long to try to engage Rangiku, even lifting his glasses to really get a good look at her chest. Without Mera around to keep him in check, he was more energetic; Rangiku, though, knew how to clobber men who overstepped their bounds with her, so Oh-Etsu could ponder the bump on his head for a while. "That's how you handle men, Isane!" she cheered, patting her friend on the shoulder, and then slyly mentioning something about being a married woman with a frisky husband that made Isane look like her face would pop. Kiyone agreed with Lieutenant Matsumoto, however, liking the idea of her becoming an aunt.

"Yes, yes, it's all going well, I'd say. Even better than I thought." Ichibe commended himself.

Tenjiro gave him a look. "Even Ichigo falling? I'd say that was a pretty big step in the wrong direction. A Palace without a King ain't much of a palace at all."

Ichibe's big head nodded, but he didn't seem to altogether agree. "Sometimes, the King needs to ride off to get a lay of the land. He'll be back, though."

"And when he comes back," continued an airy voice coming up from his side, "he can begin his husbandly duties." Senjumaru was smirking as she stared at the wives of Ichigo's.

"Hmm! I suppose so. What is peace, after all?" said Ichibe, puffing up his chest. He left it there for a moment, and then moved on to other matters, still looking to Senjumaru. "And how is the project going? It's a lot to ask for of Ichigo-san to take on the responsibility of being the Soul King, after all. We need to grant him a boon!"

Tenjiro rolled his eyes with a scoff. "As if eight wives ain't enough?"

"The makeup process is done," Senjumaru answered the Monk. "It relies only on Kirio's abilities now."

"There's no worry about that." The Grain King had just set out a fresh platter of pork buns for a light snack to anyone still hungry. She'd finally slimmed down, but was still hoisting her heavy-duty spatula against her narrow shoulder. "With the base soul, I was able to condense the reishi into a matter that could contain the power. Kisuke-san's research of the Hogyoku was very helpful in that regard. The body can sustain enormous power."

"Perhaps we also have Sosuke Aizen to thank for that," Ichibe mused thoughtfully. "And the others?"

"Capturing remnants of dissipating reiatsu isn't easy," Kirio continued with a bit more seriousness. "However, if one can remember who they are looking for, it is possible. Senjumaru-san did well at reconstructing them!"

Senjumaru tilted her head, finding the praise to be slight for her talents. "Merely an afternoon's work. But the King requested I squander my needle with playthings."

Kirio smiled to this and thumped her large spoon onto the ground. "He is a very kind soul!"

Ichibe again nodded to this assessment, though his face was a bit more grim. "Indeed, he is…"

With the caged Candice eating like a mongrel behind her, Meninas finished her meal, dabbed her lips with a napkin and stood up. Without a word to the black-haired girl watching her, she strode by to retire for the night.

When Candi-chan had finished the bowl, she turned away, not even done with her mouthful, and said, "That's enough!" As if it was her decision that no more pork be fed to her. Orihime just smiled to her, finding a similarity between her and Riruka-chan that was quite endearing. She stood up to return to the table and engage in a discussion with Tatsuki-chan, but found herself fronted by Uryu and Chad; both of whom, she greeted kindly and asked if they wanted to eat some more.

"No," declined Chad with a sweat drop, having eaten his fill and then some to try to keep up with Orihime.

"Since he hasn't done it himself," Uryu said, positioning his glasses in that pompous way of his, slighting Ichigo even when he wasn't in attendance, "I will apologize for Kurosaki for roping you into this mess. I was there when it was decided that he have this perverse arrangement…"

Chad held his tongue, but thought that Ichigo had no say in this from the very beginning…

"… so I know that you've entered this on your own terms." He gave a slight bow, recognizing her choices and showing his appreciation of her. "I'm happy that you are happy, Inoue-san."

To this, at least, Chad could smile, his eye peeking from behind his shaggy bangs. "Yeah. Congratulations to you and Ichigo."

This made Orihime's heart flutter. Her face burst with color and her cheeks hurt from how big her smile was. It was like her wedding day had come!… sans her groom… She inadvertently dropped her bowl – which would have shattered on the floor if disembodied marionette hands hadn't caught and whisked it away in an instant – and spun away from her two friends in a frenzied fit of fevered fancy. "S-Sado-kun! D-Don't say that w-without Kuro…! I mean, I-Ichigo-kun here!"

Both men stood flummoxed at her unwarranted reaction.

"Don't be so embarrassed, Inoue!"

She looked up over her hands to find Kuchiki-san standing in front of her; arms loosely folded and a proud smirk on her face. When Orihime's head lifted more, Rukia brought up a fist and made a face of determined resolution. "You need to be tough now! You need to keep that fool in line and set boundaries right at the start!" Rukia told her. "He just can't go putting his hands wherever he wants whenever he wants like a lousy pervert!"

The announcement took Orihime aback. She almost suffered a nosebleed herself! Tatsuki-chan had told her similar things, but with opposite intentions! "Use those big boobies of yours to get him to do whatever you want!" she had said years ago.

"Kuchiki-san!" wailed Orihime before the boom! happened right between them, and Ichigo's face thrust right into her open chest.

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