All I'm going to say is, I dont know, there is going to be a lot of flash backs.
It's gonna be a three shot. That's it.
When they enter Soul Society- Ichigo is instantly famous.
Nearby shinigami gawk in amazement while others-who has the balls, went up to to Ichigo and asked him for autographs. Ichigo chuckles uneasily as he signs autographs while they praise him heavily on his bravery and strength. He shook the hands of fanboys and fangirls-once in the clear, Ichigo held onto Orihime and Kazui as he followed the red ribbon.
Ichigo dead panned when he face the door guards of the Kuchiki manor. Ichigo didn't think it was necessary since she does live in Royal family district
Ichigo tells them his name and a thousand apologies are given as the door opens to a lavish traditional style housing. The many hallways to the lush green gardens an Byakuya's famed koi ponds? Not to mention the man well kept bonsai trees- a house hold servant comes and greats the Kurosaki family and invites them to follow her as she leads them towards their destination.
Ichigo actually looks around and grows impressed by the size of the palace and how everything just falls into place. Orihime loops her arm with Ichigo's while Kazui gawks in sheer amazement- Ichigo hears laughter between two people. Ichigo knew they were close.
"Abarai sama?" The household maid knocked against the shojo door. "Your guests have arrived.
A grunt was all that was needed as the shojo doors slid open to a grinning Renji and a cheerful Ichika.
"Ichika!" Kazui chers as he bumbles towards his way towards her. Renji laughs while Ichigo and Orihime seats themselves across from him. Ichigo looks around. "Where's Rukia?"
"She's in the kitchen cooking- You're in a for a treat." Renji grinned.
And so, Ichigo and Renji talk. They talk about life as a dad and how Soul society is holding up all while drinking Byakuya's grade A of the line top notch pure saki- Ichigo likes this. Mainly because its a big F- you Byakuya, I'm drinking your prized saki- kinda of feeling.
Ichigo becomes a slight bit tipsy and almost-ALMOST, confess to what he's do if he were to be a alone with Rukia in room. But that will never happen-so he sometimes day dreams about her and their hyothetical family. One boy one girl-the boy has to be born first to protect the younger sister.
Renji laughs a boisterous laughter once Ichika tells him, "Uncle Byakuya knows you drink his saki."
Though none of that matters now as the shojo doors slide open to a refreshing smiling face. It was Rukia and she was hold a bowl of Nabe along with servants behind her.
Rukia smiles and greets everyone as she walks right in-she personally goes to Renji first as she places his bowl infrony og him- Renji grabs her tiny hande and kisses it mumbling, "I love you". Rukia chuckled as she whispers back, "I love you too."
Ichigo balls his fist so tight it becomes white- no one notices sine it was under the table.
Everyone is served a bowl of Nabe- But Ichigo's was special. Rukia made sure-she was adamant, to add a little more spice on Ichigo's bowl-Renji noted that once Rukia pulled a servant aside and ordered that servant to take that specific bowl to Ichigo.
The sound of chopsticks clinking against the ceramic bowl with praises on how tasty and good it was- Orihime asked if Rukia could teat her how to make it. Rukia laughs a she shakes her head, telling her its a secret Kuchiki family recipe.
After the meal is done Renji insisted on Ichigo and Orihime staying for the night-seeing that they don't get much visitors due to the fact that everyone is afraid of Byakuya.
Orihime agrees to it sine it is a change of scenery and a change of pace.
And so, the new has been spread to the kids who look at one another and cheered as Ichika grabbed Kazui's hand- Renji stopped her.
"No." Renji He firmly said. "no boys in your room."
"Butt daaaadddddddd..." "ichika pouted as she pulled the dady's girl act. "We're friends."
Renji nearly falls for Ichiki's, "dadddy's girl" act-but not Rukia.
"You heard your dad." Rukia firmly supported as she softly smiled. "No boys in your room."
Ichika huffs and pouts as she fold her arms. "Fiinnnneeee..."
Orihime giggles as Kazui runs to her and buries his face against her, mumbling how unfair it was- Ichigo thinks the same as he watch Renji and Rukia.
The kids are now outside catching fire flies as the adults sit back and watch. Orihime is Cuddling with Ichigo and Renji is cudddling with Rukia- Rukia heard Orihime telling Ichigo she wanted another child. A from forms on Rukia's porcelain smooth face- Renji doesn't notice since he's a bit tipsy from all that saki he drank earlier.
The children giggle and laugh as they challenge each other who can catch the most fire flies- they call their dads for help as their dads look at one another and chuckled and shrugged as they head towards their own child. Leaving Orihime and Rukia alone.
It was quiet between Orihime and Rukia until Rukia finally spoke up and asked how life for her is like in the real world-worst mistake of her life.
Orihime would tell Rukia the romantics ways Ichigo would recite English love poems to her, how he randomly brings flowers back home to her, how he would hug her from behind mumbling incoherent worlds against her neck- and how he would send Kazui off to his aunt's place just so they can have some alone time and-
"Mom! Come see how many fireflies we caught!" Rukia is eternally grateful for Ichika- she smiles and heads towards Ichika, leaving Orhime alone- Orihime not wanting to be left out, goes and joins Kazui and Ichigo.
Ichika boasts how much more fireflies she caught than Kazui. Renjis laughs as he tossles Ichika's head and praises her for beating that snot nose kid (in a competitive way.)
Kazui sadly shows his parents the jar of fireflies he caught and tells them he jealous of Ichika- Ichigo laughs as he tousles Kazui's hair. "You can catch some more when we get home."
Tiny little Kazui looks up at his father, "But Ichika won't be there."
The children are now sleepy and the adults call it a night and bid each other good bye.
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Ichigo can't fall asleep. He's not use to the sleeping arrangements. He's use to the nice comfy spring bed- not cushion against the flat wooden floor. So, he decided to get up and stroll around outside. See what Byakuya's money can buy. Though, the moment he left his room, he notices her reistu. Which was weird because he only sensed her reistu-not Renji.
So, by sheer curiosity, Ichigo followed the red ribbon which lead him to Rukia in her white yukata against the thick red open thresh hold leading to the koi garden- she laughs. "You can't fall asleep either?"
"Che," Ichigo scoffed, "It's not normal to sleep like that."
They are now seated next to one another with a respectable amount of space between them of course. They sit next to each other and reminisce the countless times she called him a incompetent fool- he has now been upgraded to pompous buffoon. She giggles at her own jokes and nudges him or a sign of approvement- he looks at her and it takes him back to his room were he's sixteen years old. Back to his old room, he's reading manga on his bed while she's laying on the floor drawing pictures of Chappy. He remembers her commenting how unrealistic it was and how cliche the plot was. Ichigo would argue back about how its all about action and aventure- Rukia would scoff once she saw the cover. "You can so tell he's going to go with that weak pretty chick with the huge rack-"
"No." Ichigo argues back. " The man charter isn't shallow like that. Beside, what kind of person like a weak-"
"Ichigo!"Rukia slaps the back of his head and glares at him.
"What the hell Rukia?!"
"I looked at you for an answer and you just dozed off like the idiot you are."
"Shut up midget!"
"What?! I've grown a lot after the tens years we've been apart!"
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She laughs, she laughs as it take her back 13 years ago.
It was movie night at the Kurosaki household and everyone was happily situated-afteran arguement about what movie they should watch. Personally Rukia wanted to watch a horror movie but a chappy movie would do too. Yuzu agreed on Chappy while Karin agreed on horror. Though it was up to Isshin that would make the final decision.
"We will watch what my third daughter wants to watch."
Rukia cheers as Yuzu buries her face against Isshin's broad shoulder.
The movie starts and Yuzu made her dad to promise her when the scary part of the movie is starting and ending. Isshin laughs as he tries to reasure her that the movie is all fake- still Yuzu insisted.
Karin is sitting next to Ichigo on his left who is sitting next to Rukia on her left who has he feet comfortably on Ichigo's lap. Karin would notice her older brother tickling Rukia's feet every time someone get murdered- making Rukia like a demented sadist- Rukia would would stomp her feet against Ichigo's lap every time he did that- Ichigo would be eternally greatful she didn't stomp on his family jewels.
Once the chips ran out, it was Rukia's turn to get the chips. But, one she headed towards the kitchen, Rukia noticed Ichigo's, Yuzu's, and Karin's, names repeatably written with lines on it. Rukia was intrigued. "Ichigo!" Rukia called out as she continued to look at the newly discovered information.
"Yeah?" Ichigo grumbles as he walked towards her.
"What's this?" Rukia points at the kitchen thresh hold.
"Oh that?" Ichigo scratches the back of his head, "That's the measurement of our heights when we were younger. We measure our height every year to se how much taller we got."
Violet hue eyes widen a a bright toothy beams upon her face. "MEASURE ME!" Rukia cheered
"Why?" Ichigo frowned."You're still a midget-ow!"
A solid kick to the shin shuts Ichigo up as Rukia places her hand on her hips like an authoritative figure. "Measure me..."
Cursing under his breath, Rukia exitingly leans against the thresh hold and aligns herself against it as Ichigo gets a marker.
"Hold still." He tells her before marking her height. " he marks her height and grins. "See, you're a mid-gah!" A kick to the shin shuts Ichigo up as Rukia grabs the marker and quickly drew a tiny chappy and scribbles her name. "HA!" she cheers."Just you wait and see how much taller I-"
"Oi!" Ichigo flicks Rukia's forehead. "Earth to Rukia."
Rukia's violet hue eyes flutter as she snaps out of her daze. "Yeah?"
"Kazui's birthday is coming up, I was wondering if you and your family wanted to come."
"It depends n our schedule."
It becomes quiet. nothing is said between the two as Rukia lets out a sigh of content and looks up at the moon, Ichigo happened to catch Rukia looking at the moon and it takes him back 12 years ago.
It's the moon festival and his entire family is all dressed up in traditional clothing- Including Rukia. Rukia wasn't wearing the traditional shinigami uniform, but a purple kimono decorated with floral prints. Ichigo sighed as his old man insisted he should change too.
The family go to Hirosaki for the best cherry blossom view- Ichigo comments to Rukia if he ever wanted to see cherry blossoms-he'd piss off Byakuya- that there earned Ichigo a punch to the side.
They arrives at Hirosaki and Rukia's eyes widen. The vast majority of paper lanterns glowing and flickering under the big bright moon? Rukia happily walked towards the many paper lantern displays and surrounded herself with them as they all glowed underneath her. Ichigo would watch her from the corner of his eyes while still trying to keep into with his family- he sees her looking around smiling like a little child at a museum. Ichigo sighs because it's inevitable that Rukia would go and ask him to buy one of the paper lanterns- so why not get it over with?
He chooses the one Rukia has been eyeing the entire time when she was exploring the many decorative and colorful paper lanterns. He calls her over- and by the time she looks at him- she already knows as s sly grin forms on her face. "Yeah?" she points at the paper lantern in front of her. "Just take it."
With the brightest of all smiles she happily takes the paper lanterns and thanks hims immensely and bumbles off holding it while view many other paper lanterns under the canopy of cherry blossoms.
"Hey Rukia..."
She hmmms as a form as she listening, but it remained silent for awhile. Rukia noted that as she turned her head facing him, violet to bronze. "You were saying."
Ichigo scratches the back of his head like the unsure teenager he use to be, "Have you ever thought about-you know, what if-"
"Stop." Rukia sighs. She knows what he means. She knows that look- that uneasy look-that unsure look if he's going to win the battle look. "We're too old for that."
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"You know I would have fought for us right?" Ichigo finally mumbles loud. "I would have fought so fucken hard-"
"Stop it!" Rukia yelps as she furrows her eyebrows. "Its too late to talk like that."
"Fine..." Ichigo lessenes the intensity once Rukia stopped glaring at her- he notice a tinge of regret in her eyes. "Would it be different if I-"
"You know the answer..." Rukia quietly responded as she looked at the bright moon glowing above them. "Soul-"
"I fought two wars for them- two wars Rukia- two fucken wars for them- and won each time- and this is the bullshit answer-"
"It'll disrupt the balance." Rukia repeated like mantra in her mind. "It would never work- I'm from soul-"
"Fuck Soul society- I'm not asking for their permission-"
She turns and looks at him- she truly looks at him. Her watery violet hue eyes and his bronze brown eyes. Her slender elegant hand turned into tight angst fist- her confidet mature voice cracks. "No matter what you do or say- the answer will always be no. We are not destined to be with one another. We have to think about our beloved ones- how a careless action-"
"If no one was in our way-no soul society, no orihime, no renji, no kids-would you have married me?" He looked at her as she slowly closed her eyes and took in a deep breath.
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"No."
And within a blink of an eye, Rukia gets up and disappears like nothing happened, leaving Ichigo behind with the aftermath.
The morning bright lights filtered through the shojo doors as a a bright giggling voice wakes him up. "DAAAADDDDD!" Kazui happily laughs as he glomps Ichigo. "Its time for breakfast!"
Ichigo moans and groans as he pulls the covers over his head. He 's be through a lot shit last night and right now, being alone sounds pretty good right now.
"Come on now sleepy head," Orihime cooed. Ichigo noted that. "We have breakfast to attend to- I heard Rukia is making us breakfast today-" The moment he heard Rukia's name was the moment he woke up. I wonder if Renji knew what happened...
Laughter and giggles was exchanged between Ichika and Renji. They were playing a game they made up and obiviously, Renji lost.
"Come on dad," Ichika grinned as she teased. "just admit you lost."
"Nah," Renji challenges as he tightened his hair. " I ain't losing to a snot nosed kid like you."
Ichika laughs as the shojo door slide open, "Oh? someone's having fun without me?"
"Mom!" Ichika cheers as she runs to her. "Dad won't admit he lost!"
Rukia laughs as she lifts her child up and dramatically looks at Renji, "You lost?!"
Renji chuckles as he gets up and headed towards his wife while Ichika tells Rukia how she accidentally made Kazui cry- ew gross. Renji and Rukia are kissing while Ichika is stuck in the middle moaning and groaning how disgusting it was-how it'll forever scar her for-
The shojo doors slides open as Orihime gasps and covers Kazui's eye- Ichigo's jaw clenched tight as his fists go white. Rukia pulls away from the kiss and slowly lets go of Ichika and uneasily apologizes as she invites everyone in- all while avoiding eye contact with Ichigo.
The breakfast goes by smoothly, no complaints from Orihime who found it really comforting and different- she loved the food though and hopes one day she and Rukia can cook with one another in the real world.
Ichigo, not sure whether Renji knows what happens or-
Renji looks around, "Ichigo." Renji seriously spoke to him as his eyes hardens. Ichigo thought the worst. Renji was about beat him- "Here." Renji slicks a bottle of saki from Byakuya's "not so secret now" saki stash from his sleeve. "Don't let any of the household servants know." Ichigo uneasily grins and nods while Rukia "happily talks to Orihime- Ichigo wonders how Rukia can even face the woman that robbed her future with him.
The children giggle as they nudge one another mumbling noes and yeses- eventually, Ichika gathered the strength and confidence as sjhe cleared her throat and headed towards her dad with her head up high. "Daddy?" Ichika pulls the daddy's girl act. "Can I sleep over at the Kurosaki's-"
"Ask your mom." Renji laughs. He's not touching that
Ichika, looking at Rukia with pleading puppy eyes- Rukia doesn't buy in. "No. You can't. You belong here, in-"
"What if we promise Ichika won't sleep in Kazui's room?" Orihime blurted in defense after seeing the sad depressed look on Kazui's face. "Ichigo can protect her if anything went wrong." Orihime offers.
Rukia looks a Ichika who chewing on her lip mumbling- Rukia wants to know.
"What were you saying?" Rukia gently poked Ichika-catching her off guard. "It's not fair..." Ichika quietly mumbles. "You slept in uncle Kurosaki's closet.."
Rukia's eyes slightly widen as a million memories of Ichigo flashes before here eyes- she bends down towards Ichika's height. "That's because I had no where else to go-"
"You could have stayed with Urahara san..." Ichika rebutted.
Completely catching Rukia off guard-because in every right Ichika is right, Rukia looks calmly and sighs. "Ichika- you belong here- soul society- not there-"
"But its only for one night.." Ichika pleaded as she persisted. "One night mom-just one night. pleeeaaaasseeeeee... I promise to behave myself..." Ichika sticks her pinky out smiling a shy eager smile. Rukia closed her eyes- Ichika's bright and eager eyes looked at her, and lets out a huff, Rukia sticks out her pinky and loops it with Ichika's "Okay- just one night-"
Ichika cheers for joy as she looks at Kazui and gives him a thumbs up before going to her room to pack things up all while Rukia speaks to Orihime and what she expects from Ichika and to report to her if anything were to happen to Ichika and all the things a mother would worry about their child- completely ignoring Ichigo's raging stare.
"Tada!" Ichika beams as she slings her backpack over her shoulder. "I'm done packing!"
Rukia turns towards her child and looks at her. "Remember what you promised me?"
Ichika nodded smiling while Kazui giggles with happiness.
"Okay," Rukia huffs and pokes Ichika's puffy cheeks. "I'll see you tomorrow?"
Grinning with nothing but sheer happiness, "Yup! I'll be home tomorrow!"
"I'll miss you." Rukia taps Ichika's nose who bats her hand away. "Mooomm..." Ichika whines as Rukia laughs before she faces Orihime.
"It was fun having you here." Rukia lied as she brightly smiled as she hugs ORihime. "Take care of Ichika for me."
Orihime softly smiles. "Of course I will..."
And then...
There was Ichigo.
The one Rukia has been avoid the whole time.
The one Rukia is saving for last.
Rukia gathers her strength, as she heads towards Ichigo, she facing him, not looking at him in the eyes, she sticks her hand out as a cold mutual acquaintance and nothing-
Ichigo pulls her into a hug- Rukia does not know what to do about this. She painfully told him nothing will ever work out for-
"I still love you." was whispered against her ear.
Ichigo was ready for a thrashing between him being a complete pompous baffoon to how they are not fated to be with one-
She hugs him back a slight bit harder, "I'm sorry..."
Ichigo's heart dropped. Did she apologized for not returning the same feelings he has for her?
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"I still love you too."
And she lets go smiling bitterly as she then turn on her heels and walks towards Renji, holding his hand as she rests her head on his shoulder.
Ichigo, completely zoned out as Orihime takes his hand, "Come on," Orihime happily pips, "Let's go."
"BYE MOM, BYE DAD!" Ichika yells and waves before entering the with Kazui.
"Don't do anything stupid or embarrassing!" Renji laugh as Ichika scrunches her face.
The Kurosaki family- including Ichika, walk into the leaving Rukia behind with Renji who grins at his tiny wife, "Would you like another child?"
She smiles and thinks of Ichigo and nods.