As might be expected, Ichigo's outburst caused him to once again become the unwelcome center of attention. At least, it was unwelcome to him.

Desperately trying to come up with some kind of reasonable explanation, Ichigo failed miserably as he flailed his arms and nearly stammered, "I'm just surprised, that's all."

"Surprised about what exactly?" asked Yuzu quizzically and Ichigo mentally kicked himself. Had he been thinking, Karin had only whispered the information to him so none of the others had heard, but now he'd backed himself into a corner and the only way out was to explain.

Rubbing the back of his neck and deliberately looking up at the quickly darkening evening sky, Ichigo began with, "When Jyuushiro told us that he became a father about three years ago, I assumed..." but found he had no idea how to finish that sentence without sounding like a complete dolt.

Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on one's point of view), Orihime understood and said quietly, "So you believed that their child would be around that age."

Swallowing his pride, or more accurately 'his embarrassment', Ichigo placed a fist against his sternum and lowered his top half slightly as he said in a stiff yet sincere tone, "I apologize for the misunderstanding and for the harshness of my tone just now. It was done unwittingly, yet I should still be held accountable for my actions."

To his immense surprise, Orihime's complexion drained of all color and her eyes began to take on a rather glazed appearance. Before he or any of the others could attempt to ascertain the root of this sudden change in the young woman's demeanor, Retsu once again took charge of the situation by wrapping her arm around her adopted daughter's shoulders and lean down to murmur something in Orihime's ear, which brought about a reasonably favorable reaction.

Turning to the others, Retsu stated in a calm yet officious tone, "Orihime and I will head inside to make sure the final preparations are in order for dinner," and then without further ado turned to do just as she stated.

Clapping his hands together and effectively taking everyone's minds off the scene they had just witnessed, Kaien said with a grin, "Well then, how's about we shelve this topic until a bit later after we've all had a bit of sustenance?" Unsurprisingly, no one disagreed with his pronouncement and they all made their way to the triclinium.

Jyuushiro was already comfortably settled on his recliner with Isshin taking the place to the left. The two seemed to be discussing some important matter as they both had rather serious expressions and were leaning close enough to the other to speak in hushed tones. As soon as they noticed the others entering the room, the men drew away and smiled at them. Chad was the only one who did not enter the triclinium, instead heading for the kitchen as he knew he would be needed to help with serving.

Author's Note:

Not even close to being finished with this chapter, but I'm trying to get my butt in gear and decided that I would post updates on most all my incomplete stories with SOME kind of update just to show that I haven't forgotten about finishing...even if it has been 2-4 year on most of them.