Hey everyone! I know it seems like I died and so did the story, but truthfully I've been slowly working on it... very slowly. But I've kind of lost the motivation to write since I've been super busy with school and my new job... growing up interferes so much with my true loves. xD But I decided to post up what I already have written since it seems like a good teaser for you guys or something. That and I've been nominated for "Most Creative" for the IchiHime Awards and wanted to make this story come alive again. I've also decided to break up the epilogue into three parts: this "teaser," then at Urahara's shop, and then in Soul Society.... maybe. I'll just play it by ear. =P

And honestly, I didn't have a clue on how the hell they were supposed to be graded on the baby project. I kind of made up a bunch of crap, but here's my logic. When they put the gigai into the crib and the teacher pushes that one button, the crib resonates with the gikongan and all of the information and interaction that has occurred during the month is recorded. Thusly, the paper comes out of the printer and there you have it! I dunno… does that work? Eh…

But, I'm sad that no one saw the other Naruto reference in the last chapter. I suppose it's because you all liked the ending? :3 Yes…? No…? 10 points to whoever points it out! =P

Enjoy my duckies~ but another thing! I haven't edited this chapter at all, so if there's anything I need to change, point it out. Thanks! I'll edit it later... while I'm at work. xD

EDIT: Hey there everyone! I still haevn't edited this yet since people stare at me at work... o.O But anyways, I'm at work right now and I finally have some extra time so I figured that I would just answer a couple questions or something. xD People have been asking why I've been calling the epilogue "Chapter 52." Well, the chapter numbers were supposed to correspond to the week number after the project started... granted Chapter 7: Morning of Mournings was week 6 as well... DX so anyways... since it's a year later from the beginning of the project.. it's 58 weeks, AKA Chapter 58! Woot, there's my awesome logic at play. :D (Forgive me if I'm a bit wishy-washy right now... I'm working from 8-1 and 3-8... sure I get a 2 hour break in between, but that's my lunch and driving time to the second job. D: ) And another thing... I'll mention it at the bottom since this is getting a bit long and I don't want to spoil anything...

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. I merely borrow the characters for your and my entertainment.

364 Days Later- Friday- March 13th

"So how long will you be gone this time?"

"About a week. I wish I could stay and play with you, but I can't..."

The raven-haired karate champion frowned. She hated it when her best friend crossed over to the other side, but she knew it was necessary. "A week, huh?" she asked with a lopsided smile. At least she could feel Orihime's presence when she leaves, not like that time...

Orihime looked at her best friend's sullen expression.

"Don't be sad, Tatsuki-chan. Ishida-kun will still be here for tomorrow!" she teased slightly in an attempt to cheer her up.

"Yeah yeah yeah, but you take care of yourself this time. If you get hurt, heal yourself or let them heal you. Don't come back unless you're in tip-top shape. No more cuts, bruises, or broken bones! You got that Orihime?" Tatsuki instructed as she opened the front door for her stubborn friend.

"Yes, mother." Orihime mockingly joked.

"See you," Tatsuki said as they walked through the door.

"Bye~"

Orihime waved goodbye as she carried her tiny duffle bag. She walked down the desolate street, stopped in front of a familiar home, and casually walked down the stone pathway reaching the front door. As soon as she lightly knocked, the door flung open. Blocking the entryway, Ichigo and Chad stood with their backpacks in hand. It looked like they were ready to leave.

"Inoue," Ichigo quickly said as he slung his bag over his shoulder," let's hurry up and go before my da-"

Before he could finish his sentence and walk out the door, Isshin came running down the stairs, kicking Ichigo aside.

"Orihime-chan! " Ichigo's father exclaimed, grabbing his son's girlfriend by the shoulders and tightly hugging her, much to Ichigo's annoyance. As Ichigo clamped a hand onto his father's shoulder, Isshin turned and trapped his son into a headlock. "You delinquent son, how dare you make her meet you!"

Completely perturbed by his zany father, Ichigo punched his dad in the side. Isshin quickly let his grasp around his son's neck loosen, leaving a serious opening. Ichigo pushed his father off of his back and clutched at his father's face. "You bastard! I was going to meet her at her apartment before we left, but noooo. You're the one who requested that she came here, saying you wanted to talk to us before we left!"

Isshin brought a hand to his already covered face and thought. "Hmm, that's right…"

"That's right?!" Ichigo flung his arms into the air out of frustration and punched his dad in the stomach.

Meanwhile, Orihime and Chad stood idly by in the doorway as the father and son brawled it out.

"So, what are you doing here Sado-kun? Did Kurosaki-san ask for you to come here as well?"

Chad shook his head. "I was checking to see if Karin's here, but she's not. So, I guess I'll meet you guys at the store," their half-Mexican, half-Japanese friend replied as he walked out the door.

"You take care now, and I'll be sure to tell Karin that you stopped by!" Isshin hollered out to Chad as he continued to wrestle with Ichigo.

"What the hell, dad?!" the orange-haired teenager furiously asked while twisting his father's leg in the opposite direction, "You give me hell about Inoue, but you tell Chad to 'take care' even though he's dating your daughter?!"

The two ceased their physical fight and commenced with the verbal warfare.

"Karin's a strong girl, she can take care of herself!" Isshin retorted. "As for you, you had a baby together!" Ichigo rolled his eyes. "I told you it was for a school project!" he said angrily. "Nonetheless, I'm going to have a stern talking to with the both of you!" Isshin replied, pointing at the two. In order to further annoy his son, he took Orihime by the hand and led her into the living room. "Let's have a seat, shall we?" he courteously asked.

Orihime obliged and sat on the couch adjacent to the wall closest to the door. Ichigo quickly followed and plopped right next to Orihime as his dad took a seat across from them. He leaned back, outstretched his arms and rested them against the back of the sofa. The two comfortably sat as Isshin rambled on and on.

They were bored out of their minds. Ichigo ceased listening to his father once he began to speak. He scowled at the ceiling, thinking about tomorrow and his one year anniversary with Orihime. He grinned for a bit, but scrunched his face in wonder as he felt a rolling motion on his arm. Ichigo looked down towards his beloved girlfriend.

Orihime, attempting to listen to Isshin's lecture, began tilting her head for side-to-side out of boredom. She rolled her head across Ichigo's elbow, much to his amusement.

He smirked and bent his arm, trapping Orihime's head between his bicep and forearm. Her eyes widened as he squished her face. Allowing his arm to relax around her shoulders, Ichigo pulled her in towards his chest. She grasped at it, surprised at the sudden movements. He leaned his head in towards her.

"Shouldn't you be paying attention?" he playfully whispered into her ear, the hot air making her blush. She looked up at him with her big, brown eyes and smiled.

"Hey! Are you two even listening to me?!" Isshin yelled, finally noticing that they indeed were not paying any attention to him. Ichigo rubbed his temples with his free hand as he furrowed his eyebrows. His dad was giving him one serious headache…

"No we're not, Dad," Ichigo said out of frustration, "because you give us the same lecture every time we leave!"

"Well, what do you expect me to do, son?!" Isshin replied as he leaned forward to gawk at Ichigo. "The two of you are going on vacation with each other. I'm just trying to be a good parent and take the necessary precautions so we don't have to deal with unexpected… things." His eyes widened, expecting the two to take the hint. Ichigo groaned his headache worsening, but Orihime took initiative to settle things.

"But Kurosaki-san, Sado-kun is coming with us as well so you don't need to worry about that…" she said in an attempt to convince him.

"That is true…" Ichigo's father said as he leaned back into the sofa, stroking his beard at the thought. "But, what if he's just a cover up? Or maybe…" Isshin's eyes widened. "He's your third?!" he exclaimed, clutching at his forehead with both of his hands. "Son, how could you?! Share Orihime-chan with another man…? The least you could have done was asked for your third to be a wom-"

Ichigo quickly got up and socked his father across the jaw. He fumed at his father's assumption, but became completely furious at the thought of sharing Orihime with another man. Ichigo slumped back down onto the couch, smoothly sliding an arm behind Orihime's back and softly resting a hand around her waist as he sat.

"Don't ever say that again," Ichigo ordered.

Isshin held his cheek and pouted, but nodded in agreement. Rarely did Ichigo ever become truly angry at his father's antics. Isshin made a mental note to never mention anything of the sort ever again-

"Besides, if we were going to go on that type of vacation we wouldn't bring anyone along, let alone tell you guys anything about it," Ichigo added.

Isshin grinned.

-but that didn't mean he couldn't push his buttons.

"Like I said though, Chad could just be a cover-up!"

"What about that gorilla?" Karin asked as she walked through the door. Ichigo, already crawling over the coffee table to get a good hold onto his father, stopped dead.

"Oh, hey Karin," Ichigo casually said as continued to strangle his father. Orihime stood up and clutched onto Ichigo's arms in a futile attempt to make him loosen his grip around his father's throat. "Sado-kun dropped by earlier looking for you," she said with a lopsided smile when she finally managed to pull Ichigo off of Isshin.

"Pfft. Whatever," Karin scoffed as she tossed her soccer ball at her dad while he tried to hug her. "That jerk missed my game."

"It was today?" Ichigo raised an eyebrow as he asked. Karin eyed Ichigo as if he were an idiot. "But you said it was next week." His little sister scrunched her eyebrows in thought, but merely shrugged at her error.

"I'll make it up to him when he gets back," she said as she began walking upstairs.

"Ah, Karin-chan! Why not go now? He's at the Urahara Shop," Orihime suggested.

"The Urahara Shop?" Isshin interrupted before his daughter could answer. "Why is he at Urahara's?" he asked, putting on a good show for his oblivious children (and soon-to-be-daughter-in-law.) Ichigo and Orihime looked at each other, wondering what excuse they could give him. Meanwhile, Karin escaped into her room in order to avoid any other interaction with her dad.

"O-oh, he just needed to pick up some things before we left," Orihime said, laughing nervously at the end. Isshin's eyes widened once again.

"What kind of… things?"

"Snacks for the trip there," Ichigo immediately answered as he stood up and grabbed their bags. "Well, see you old man." He and Orihime quickly made their way towards the front door, but Isshin followed.

"Are you sure you guys packed enough?! I mean, look at your tiny bags. You said you'd be gone for a week!"

"We have everything, Kurosaki-san."

"Everything else we need is at the place we'll be staying." Ichigo added.

"And how is that not suspicious?" Isshin hollered through the window as the pair made their way down the street. "Ichigooooooo! ORIHIME-CHAAAAAAN!!!"

Once they could no longer hear his cries, Ichigo finally began to relax. The two happily walked side-by-side with the wind snipping at their faces. "I like your dad. He always makes me laugh," Orihime said with a smile on her face. Whether it be the cold weather or just the fact she was smiling, Ichigo's cheeks became a little pink and he became thankful for the scarf wrapped around his neck and cheeks. "Uh huh," he said through his scarf.

"I kind of don't want to go to Soul Society this time…" she said as she twiddled her thumbs. She pressed her lips together, puffed up her cheeks, and looked up at Ichigo.

"Want to play hooky?" he asked with a grin on his face.

"We tried that last time, Kurosaki-kun," Orihime said, pouting her lips and swinging her arms as they walked, "and we got caught and they dragged us there anyways."

"I know, but can't hurt to try again. We can go into hiding," he joked.

"But where would we go?" Orihime asked, wide-eyed, taking him seriously.

"We could go to the Vizard's hideout or we can go on a real vacation with each other and try to mask our reiatsu better this time," Ichigo said with a grin on his face as grasped onto his girlfriend's hand which she had been playfully swinging into his backside. "That way, we can celebrate our one year together, alone, and not training in Soul Society."

"I like it!" she said as she interlaced their fingers and rubbed up against his arm while clutching at it with her free hand. Ichigo looked down at the auburn beauty, only to see her looking up at him and smiling even more cutely. She halted him for a brief second, stood on her tippy-toes, and gave him a light peck on the cheek after removing part of his scarf. In that moment, Ichigo's heart stopped and he forgot how to breathe. Heat rose into his cheeks and coursed through his entire body. His palms became sweaty and his heart began to race.

"But, we're still heading towards the Urahara Shop," she said as they began walking again, swinging their interlaced hands.

Even after a year of dating, she could still do that to him. Whenever they were with friends, they were never cutesy-wootsy or cuddly-wuddly. So whenever they were alone… oh man, could she get to him. Just the slightest touch, the slightest look of endearment, and he became a heated mess. Dropping things, stuttering out of embarrassment, and then scowling out of frustration, but even then she would smile and laugh at his frown making him into a mess yet again. And even when they became more intimate he never got this nervous.

"We can take a long detour," he suggested after catching his breath.

It was the little things she did that turned his world upside down.

So was that satisfying enough...? I sure as hell hope so cuz it may take me a while to finish the rest, but it's a good thing I've got my mojo back... I just need to find the time to finish now. D:

Stay tuned you all for the unveiling of Urahara and Yoruichi's BABY!!! :DDD

EDIT: Well anyways, I've been getting some comments on how the whole Karin/ Chad thing doesn't sit well with certain people, but to be honest... even though Karin has more "suitors" I can't really see Chad with anyone else. Right? I read a fic that paired him with Matsumoto and I thought that was a strange pairing... then I read a fic that had the Chad and Karin pairing. That made me think... that might actually work! I mean, really... she's pretty much like Ichigo but you know, in girl form, and Chad's Ichigo's best friend... they're only like what...? Three years apart...? That's like me and the "hubbie."

Eh, show me some love?