Rukia woke up the next morning feeling sick again. This was starting to get really annoying. Ichigo said that it was probably a small stomach flu but this has been going on for too long. Thankfully she didn't have to run to the bathroom today. She knew how much Ichigo hated waking up seeing her in front of the toilet. But the uneasiness was still there.
Things have been too weird lately. Not only has she been feeling nauseous but tired as well. Rukia could feel herself growing more tired even though she gets plenty of sleep. There's been an increase of Hollows around Karakura as well, but Ichigo took care of them. He forbade Rukia from leaving her gigai because she was too ill. Of course she fought back, most of the times kicking his shin, but he was as stubborn as she was. In the end he won, and Rukia was kind of glad he did because she really needed to rest.
Ichigo turned over to the other side and his arm fell off her waist. It felt better on her stomach now that his pressure was off of her. But just as she was about to fall back asleep, there was a small knock on their door.
Rukia quickly sat up but didn't answer in case she was just hearing things. No other noise came so she was planning on laying back down but the knock came again.
"Who is it?" Rukia whispered as she got off the bed and walked over.
"… Rukia-chan," Isshin's voice came from outside their room.
Rukia quickly opened the door and saw the ex-shinigami standing outside. "Hai? Is anything wrong?"
Isshin gave her a smile… but it was a sad smile, totally unlike his character. "Is Ichigo awake?"
"No," Rukia quietly replied, "Do you want me to wake him up?"
Isshin shook his head, "No. I actually wanted to talk to you."
Rukia nodded and quietly stepped out and closed the door. She followed Isshin who led her to his office in the clinic. Rukia wished she had grabbed some extra clothing because now the early spring wind was coming and she was only wearing one of Ichigo's big shirts and his boxer briefs.
"Is anything wrong?" Rukia asked as she sat on the chair in front of Isshin's desk.
Isshin kept giving her a sad smile which was starting to freak her out. "Rukia-chan…"
"Hai."
"…Have you been feeling sick lately?"
Rukia blinked her eyes several times. "Yes… but how did you know—Oh! I'm sorry! Have I been waking you up when I go to the bathroom—"
"No no!" Isshin waved his hands, "I can tell by your reiatsu patterns that's how."
"Oh…" Rukia calmed down, "Actually, I was going to ask you today about it. Ichigo said it was most likely stomach flu but it's been going on for quite some time."
Isshin nodded his head. "Yes it has. Ichigo made a pretty good guess, but I have to say he diagnosed it wrong."
"I knew it," Rukia mumbled under her breath. She looked back at Isshin with a worried expression. "Then might you be able to tell me what's really going on?"
Isshin looked at Rukia and sighed. He leaned against his chair and looked up for a second before dropping his gaze back at his future daughter-in-law.
Rukia could feel her patients running out. She really wanted to know what was wrong with her because it was annoying her to no end. And here was Isshin, who seems to know what's going on but he wasn't saying anything. When Isshin finally met her gaze, she gulped. And what was to come next she was not ready for.
"Rukia-chan… You're pregnant."
Rukia stared at the older man with an emotionless expression. Isshin waited as this information slowly—and I mean slowly—sunk in. He knew this was not something she expected. Who would have? No amount of training in Soul Society ever made a person ready to hear that they were going to be parents. But why was she still quiet? It's been going on for too long… maybe he should repeat just in case she didn't hear clearly before.
"Rukia-chan—"
"Y-you sure?" She finally asked. "Are you absolutely certain?"
Isshin nodded his head. "A shinigami's reiatsu pattern changes drastically when they conceive. And just by looking at your symptoms I know I'm right. If you still don't believe me I can take a test for you… but really, even Yoruichi and Kisuke noticed."
"But something similar happened when Ichigo and I first—well, you know…"
Isshin nodded. "True but that was only an increase of the reiatsu you already had. This time there are two reiatsu surrounding your soul: one is the one you originally had, which also changed; and the other one belongs to someone else. Technically, it belongs to your child."
Rukia felt her body stiffen. It's not like she didn't want to have kids but… wasn't this too soon? And why is Isshin giving her such a sad expression? Shouldn't he be jumping up and down?
"Kurosaki-san—"
"'Otousan' is fine with me," Isshin interrupted, "After all, you're part of the family now."
Rukia smiled. "Otousan. Might you know how far along I am?"
Isshin chuckled. "From the drastic change in your reiatsu pattern I'd say that you're about two months. Add or take a few days."
Rukia gave an even bigger smile. She was going to be a mother. And Ichigo was going to be a father. She stood up and bowed. "Arigato, otousan! I must go and tell Ichigo—"
"Rukia-chan…"
Rukia stood up straight and stared at the now darken face of Isshin. "H-hai?"
Isshin motioned her to sit back down as his smile disappeared. "I'm sorry but you must not tell Ichigo."
"What?" Rukia whispered but loud enough that he could hear.
"I'm sorry," Isshin continued, "But Ichigo must not know of his child."
"Why?"
"Rukia-chan—"
"Why?" Rukia yelled. She knew something was wrong. Here is the man whose been pestering her to have his grandkids for the past few months since she and Ichigo got together, but now he looked like he didn't want one! "I don't understand! What's going on? Why are you acting like—"
"Rukia," Isshin brought out his serious tone that immediately quieted the woman, "Calm down and I'll tell you."
Rukia wasn't calm but she did shut up. Her breathing was still heavy and she was getting irritated.
Isshin sighed as he got ready for his long talk. "This is going to be a long explanation. Please refrain from interrupting until I'm done." He paused and saw Rukia nodding. "Thank you. As I was saying, you are pregnant… but this isn't a normal pregnancy."
Rukia gulped. She didn't like where this was going.
"Your child has obtained a huge amount of reiatsu from both you and Ichigo. Now normally a child with both shinigami parents goes through this… but not to this extent. You are only in your first trimester and the child's reiatsu is so large that I could detect it quite easily as could the others. It almost feels like that of a rookie shinigami."
Rukia couldn't believe what Isshin was saying. Was her child that strong?
"Now this is probably because you have an amazing amount of reiatsu yourself, but Ichigo has a LOT more. And I emphasize the word 'LOT'. When Masaki was pregnant with Ichigo, she almost lost her life because of his overbearing reiatsu that she had to contain and control. And I'm afraid you might… no, I'm certain you'll go through a similar ordeal."
Isshin paused to see if Rukia was following. She was sweating but nodded for him to continue.
"Anyways, I was one of the few shinigamis with reiatsu of such level. But Masaki also had them too. I'm going to tell you a little history of myself. I was a shinigami who was in charge of a different sector in Japan. A few months before I got promoted to a fukutachiou I went to my old station to finish my last few missions. But I never expected to meet a little girl who could see spirits. She lived with her grandparents who also had a small amount of reiatsu and she inherited her powers from them. I didn't know why but I was intrigued by this little girl so I often visited her. A lot of the times were because a hollow was trying to attack her."
Isshin paused, closing his eyes. Memories were coming back.
"I pretended like the child annoyed me when she kept following me around but in reality I enjoyed her company. When my last mission was done, she was sad and cried, begging me not to go. I was heartbroken. I promised her that I'd return to visit so she promised that she'll never forget about me. But it wouldn't be years later until I returned and at that time I quickly became a taicho. I've been busy but I never forgot about that little girl. When there was a huge mission that needed the involvement of a taicho, I immediately took the mission and visited the human world. It was to last for days, maybe even weeks so Urahara gave me a gigai. I didn't know this then, but when I arrived at the human world, my life changed drastically."
Rukia smiled, knowing what he meant. "You met okasan."
Isshin chuckled as he nodded his head. "She was in her third year at her university. And she was damn beautiful. As soon as I saw her I knew it was her. At that moment, an epiphany hit me. This was my Masaki, and she will always be my Masaki. But for some stupid reason Soul Society's rule about 'no interaction with humans' came to my mind. I still had a mission to do so I turned around and tried to walk away. But… my Masaki saw me and immediately came after me. I was shock to find out that she still remembered me. She took me back to her apartment, explaining how she moved out of her grandparent's house and was now living on her own in the city. I found out that she was pretty lonely despite having so many friends around her. So I decided to keep her company until the end of my mission. I had no other place to stay anyways. But then, something unexpected happened..."
Isshin paused as a serious expression came over. Rukia swallowed hard and waited for the older man to continue.
"She became pregnant with Ichigo."
A/N: O.o
Things are getting crazy! Find out Isshin's reason in the next chapter!
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