Rukia and Ichigo stood next to each other, hand in hand, as people walked by to congratulate the huge success of Rukia's gallery.
Ukitake and his wife walked up to the younger couple.
"Congratulations on such a successful opening," Ukitake smiled, extending one of his hands.
Rukia took his hand and shook it with a wide smile. "This was only possible with your help, Ukitake-san."
Unohana also extended her hand. "And congratulations on your engagement. I must say, it's about time."
"T-thank you," Rukia blushed.
Ichigo smirked, gripping her hand tighter. "Thanks," he said to the older couple.
"But don't expect me to lessen your paperwork just because of this joyous occasion," Unohana smiled sweetly at him, sending a shiver down Ichigo's spine.
"Of course," he gulped.
As Ukitake walked his wife to another section of the gallery, Rukia looked around with a concern look. "Ichigo, where are Takeshi and Mai? I haven't seen them the last few minutes."
"They're playing with Karin outside," he responded, pointing to the door with his thumb. "This quiet and serious atmosphere was never really their style." Then, Ichigo noticed Matsumoto, Hinamori, Tatsuki and Orihime running towards them with a mischievous glint in their eyes. And the others were closely following them as well. He looked at them with a cautious look, ready to break into a run if necessary.
"CONGRATULATIONS!"
Ichigo cringed at their shrilling voices.
Rukia smiled, releasing her grip on Ichigo and hugging all of her friends.
"I can't believe after ten long years you two are finally getting married!" Orihime screamed.
"Yeah, and all it took was for Ichigo to knock her up twice." Ichigo glared as Renji threw his arm around his shoulder.
"Get off of me, pineapple," the orange head snarled.
More laughter exploded as Uryuu and Chad also appeared.
"Deny all you want but you know it's true," Uryuu said.
Chad nodded in silence.
Rukia only laughed as their friends kept commenting about how stupid Ichigo was for proposing so late. The orange head scowled even more, trying his best to keep his voice down in the gallery. But it wasn't helping much because almost everyone was staring at them.
"Rukia."
The icy tone sent shivers down the said woman's spine. She turned around and bowed at the man in front of her.
"Niisama."
Ichigo, seeing Byakuya in all his I'm-superior-than-you glory, glared at the man. He walked up and stood next to Rukia. "Bykauya," he simply said.
And the man replied back with a small nod, barely acknowledging his presence.
The others in the back just watched on with shock and interest.
"So that's Rukia's brother…This is like a soap opera," Matsumoto whispered in a not-so-quiet voice, reaching everyone's ears.
"Wish I had some popcorn," Renji added.
Tatsuki gave him a small glare. "You really should think about what you're eating; I swear you gained weight."
"What? That's not possible!" he shouted, searched around his body as if there was something on him. Everyone quickly forgot about the 'drama' that they were watching and focused on Renji.
Orihime nodded in agreement with her best friend. "This was to be expected. Next time you should try eating popcorn with some red bean paste and cover it with mustard. It should help with your diet."
Renji raised a brow at him. "Wouldn't that just make things worse?"
"Of course not!" she pouted.
Uryuu cleared his throat and whispered to his friend, "I still don't recommend you trying it."
"Well, I guess I'll just have to put you into a diet plan," Tatsuki announced.
Renji shook his head furiously. "There is NO fucking way I'm going to let you do that! You'll kill me by the end of the week with your crazy karate—"
"WILL ALL OF YOU JUST SHUT UP?" Ichigo yelled at his friends who immediately closed their mouths.
"I see your manners haven't changed at all, kozo," Byakuya commented.
Ichigo returned his glare at him. "I'm sorry, Kuchiki-sama," he said, the last part through his grinding teeth.
Rukia lightly placed her hand on his arm and moved in front of him. "I apologize, niisama."
"Well, I won't-OW!" Ichigo yelped in pain when Rukia suddenly pinched his arm.
Byakuya, who was smiling at seeing the kozo getting hurt, returned to his emotionless demeanor. "Has anything suspicious been happening lately?" he suddenly asked his sister.
Rukia looked at him for a second before shaking her head.
The nobleman let out a small sigh of relief. "I'm glad. But Rukia, I want you to know that opening this gallery—"
"MAMA!"
Rukia turned around just in time to catch Mai in her arms. "Mai? What's wrong?"
Mai looked up at her mother, wiping away some fake tears. "Takii-nii is mean!" she wailed, wrapping her arms around Rukia's neck.
Ichigo returned his gaze back towards the door where Takeshi was coming through. "What did you do your sister?" he asked with a quirked brow.
Takeshi scratched his raven hair with annoyance. "I didn't do anything! Karin-obasan and I decided to go easy on her since she's still little but she took it as an offense!"
"Still, no need to get angry at your sister," Rukia said.
"But I didn't! I was just trying to explain to her why she was being given a handicap," he reasoned.
Ichigo patted his son's head. "Mai is just subconscious about her height, just like your mother," he joked, which he soon regretted when both mother and daughter glared at them. If looks could kill, they'd definitely be dead by now.
"Papa is mean too!"
"Yes he is," Rukia agreed, "Unfortunately your father and your brother were born with the annoying belief that they have to make fun of us."
Ichigo glared at her. "What are you talking about? Should I remind you who is most abusive in this family?"
"Ahem!"
Everyone turned around to see Byakuya eyeing the children. It was then Ichigo remembered his future brother-in-law was still there and now looking at his kids suspiciously. He could feel cold sweat falling down his spine.
Byakuya looked at Rukia with a serious expression and asked, "What's the meaning of this?"
Rukia gulped before setting Mai down. "N-niisama…I apologize for not informing you earlier but these two are my…OUR children."
Takeshi, upon realizing who it was standing before them, scowl in par with his father. "Are you our Byakuya-ojisama?" he asked, the last word with utter rage.
Byakuya only looked straight into his eyes, immediately noticing the genetic mix of both his sister and the annoying kozo in the young boy.
Ichigo took a step forward, hiding Takeshi behind him. "Is there a problem?" he asked, shoving his hands into his pockets.
Byakuya glared at the orange head. "Follow me," he simply said. He turned around in his heel and walked away. Ichigo was about to follow when something grabbed his arms and pulled him back. He looked down to see Takeshi with a worried expression.
Ichigo ruffled his son's hair and gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry too much; that's your mother's job." And he walked away, but not before giving Rukia the same smile.
As soon as Byakuya found a quiet corner outside of the gallery, he turned around and glared at the man who followed him. "And I thought you said you never laid a finger on her."
Ichigo used his pinky to scratch the inside of his ear before responding, "Yeah, well… Rukia and I were scared you would separate us faster if you found out about this—"
"Of course I would have," the nobleman interrupted, slightly raising his voice, "You have disgraced a woman of my household by making her a mother before marriage—"
"And that is why we are getting married now," this time Ichigo interrupted, "I don't know if you've noticed but the only reason we didn't marry earlier was because of you!"
Byakuya continued to glare at him. "But that still doesn't explain why you even laid a finger on her in the first place."
Ichigo now looked away, knowing this was going to lead the nobleman to hate him even more if possible. "Well, ten years ago we were at a party and, well…the punch was spiked."
An awkward silence passed between the two men.
Then, Byakuya did the unthinkable. Instead of killing the orange head who he considered to have 'violated' his sister, the nobleman simply turned around and started to walk away.
With disbelief in his eyes, Ichigo called out to the other man. "W-wait! Are you just going to leave like this?"
Byakuya stopped in place, making Ichigo question why he even called out to him in the first place. The nobleman slightly turned his head and said, "Is there something else that you want, kozo?"
"Um," Ichigo looked away, "I guess it'd be nice if Rukia and I got your permission to marry—"
"I am NOT giving you my blessing."
Ichigo glared at the quick response. "I know you hate me but it'll really make Rukia happy to know that her stuck-up brother is fine with her engagement and her family."
"Please tell Rukia to be careful," Byakuya suddenly said, ignoring Ichigo's previous statement.
Ichigo looked at the other man in silence, processing what was just said. "What do you mean?"
Byakuya looked straight ahead of him and sighed. "The mere fact that she now presented her name to the public as a successful woman will make other nobles want to marry her into their clan. If she's not careful, something could happen. And when that does, you'll have to deal with me." And with those words Byakuya walked away, leaving Ichigo to ponder at his words deeply for some while.
"Shit," he whispered to himself upon finally realizing what he just heard. He sighed before returning to the party inside the gallery.
Rukia looked up as soon as she noticed Ichigo's presence but not her brother's. "Where's niisama?" she asked.
Ichigo shrugged, looking away. "I guess he was busy."
"Oh," she simply replied, disappointed that Byakuya would leave without telling her. Is it because of the children? She thought to herself, feeling of dread running throughout her body. Suddenly, a pair of strong arms encircled her waist.
"It's not because of them," Ichigo whispered into her ear as if reading her mind.
Rukia smiled as she leaned into his chest. "Okay than."
But Ichigo was not smiling as he hugged the woman he loved. Instead, a strong need to protect her and their children engulfed him even more.
He knew; something was going to happen.
A/N: I noticed that my chapters have been getting shorter and shorter. Sorry about that. It's not going to get back to the original length of 2000-3000 for some time. But I will try.
So, do you guys get an idea of what's going to happen? hehe. wait a little while and I'll have the next chapter up soon (hopefully). I noticed I really don't focus too much on the other characters and that's not going to change too much for awhile. But, you guys will finally meet some other characters that I've totally forgotten to include in the beginning, and things are going to heat up soon. Look forward to it!
 | Review this Chapter |
No comments:
Post a Comment