Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. They belong to Tite Kubo and whoever else actually owns it and I make no money from writing this. This story however is mine and is not to be replicated, reposted, or copied in any way without my consent. Thank you.
Breaking The News
…
Tatsuki was clad in what any woman would be wearing right after a shower, a towel around her torso to keep her modesty while another rested in her hands as she wiped her hair dry. She was walking over to her fiancé's room so she could change after the long,
long shower that had relaxed her more than anything ever had in her life. She knew Isshin had fallen into a death-like sleep on the couch as soon as they had gotten home and Karin and Yuzu were no better off, so it had been of the utmost importance that she kept quiet else she wake everyone up.
The experience in the shower was unlike anything she had ever known was possible before, and the new knowledge that she could arouse Ichigo to that point simply by touching herself was not only a huge boost to her pride, but a dangerous card for him to have revealed to her. She could do
so many things with that knowledge. She couldn't
wait to try it out.
She was at the door to his room and had her hand on the knob when a voice called out to her and froze her solid.
"Hey Tatsuki, done your shower now? Jeez and here I thought you were a tomboy. Does this mean I can
finally go in now?" Rukia asked calmly, and—ever the patient one—with just a hint of playful sarcasm.
Of course, where else would the tiny Shinigami be but right at the door the other woman had just exited from? Tatsuki's panicked eyes widened further in fright when she turned and saw Rukia's equally towel-clad body reaching out for the doorknob of the bathroom. She had told Ichigo she would go out first and by the time she was in the room it would be safe for him to come out too so no one would be the wiser to their little tryst.
But as is the way of the world, fate was a cruel mistress that day and just as Rukia's hand was at the doorknob, it turned on its own and opened to a practically nude Ichigo, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. He and Rukia froze upon witnessing the state of undress the other was in, and for the first time he could remember Rukia's mouth was threatening to catch flies. It didn't take too long for her to revert to normal because less than a minute later that gaping mouth tightened into an all-knowing,
smug, smirk. Ichigo followed the path of her gaze as she looked away from him and over to his door, where who should be standing than none other than his lover.
Oh. Shit. "So Tatsuki, I guess I know why your shower was so long now, don't I?" the shorter Shinigami asked tauntingly, and neither Tatsuki nor Ichigo could keep the blushes off their faces.
The Association was going to die when they heard about
this. Rukia snickered as she slid around Ichigo into the bathroom but couldn't resist one last joke, and that was the smack to his hindquarters that made him jump out of the doorway in surprise. Naturally, as soon as he did that she shut the door behind him, stranding him in the hallway. He stood staring at the door for a while after that just from the sheer shock of what Rukia had just done, but he managed to wander his way over to where Tatsuki still stood, staring at the door not unlike how he had been just two seconds ago.
She was just as surprised at Rukia as he was.
He quickly shuffled them both inside his room and hastily locked the door just in case their luck somehow managed to get even worse and one of his sisters decided to walk in on him. He leaned against his door while still panting from the adrenaline rushing through his system at such an unexpected encounter, and he almost forgot to hold on to the towel around his waist in his labored breaths. In his haste however, he had forgotten that he still had Tatsuki's back plastered against his chest from when he had pushed them both inside his room, and her towel hadn't fared nearly as well as his.
That clarity only came to him when he felt the silken softness of her flesh caressing against his; from where she had decided their situation wasn't that bad after all, and had chosen to stay where he had placed her. His arm was still right under her now bare breasts and her entire body was still relaxed against his, and that meant the only barrier between them was his scarcely-secured towel. She was—unsurprisingly—very comfortable with her own nudity at this point, though that might have also been because she was alone with him
Ichigo could feel it, the heartbeat of his lover beating wildly in her chest as she leaned against him. They had been
so caught, and for some reason that didn't unsettle them in the least. They were engaged and in love, they had nothing to be ashamed of, even if they had been caught in the most inopportune of situations. She was right in front of him, skin to skin, so close he could drop the towel around his waist and they could be mistaken for making love.
Well, he thought ruefully,
why be mistaken? He trailed his hand slowly down her exposed abdomen and silently rejoiced at the way her muscles suddenly tensed and her breath hitched under his touch. He took his second hand away from his towel to go back to where his first had been previously, and this time he took it a step further and caressed it up over the bump of her breast until it rested solidly over the whole soft mound. Her breathing was becoming quicker with every touch as he started changing his hand's position between her perfectly formed breasts while his other hand had yet to enter her most sacred area, instead teasing and rubbing the flesh surrounding it with gentle, easy strokes.
"I-Ichigo…wh-
oooh-what are y-you doing?" she asked through the pleased sounds escaping her mouth unbidden. She could feel the embers of their love start reigniting with his actions as fuel and her body was responding wholeheartedly, having been denied what it wanted for so long.
"Tell me Tatsuki," he breathed huskily into her ear, "what does it feel like I'm doing? We have two weeks to make up for." He didn't know the effects of his voice when used in that tone, which she could only thank God for. Had he known, he would realize that it could turn her knees to jelly and stoke that fire within her even hotter, and that was before they had become intimate even. Now the effect was multiplied tenfold. He pulled his hips back just enough that the contact between them—the only thing holding his towel on—was broken temporarily, and the unneeded garment fell to the ground between them before his now fully nude body pressed itself against her again.
Her muffled, guttural moan when the contact was established was the last straw for him, and his hardening sex was now fully stiff between the legs that had parted of their own accord for him. He loved this game they had going. There was no one person in their relationship that held absolute power, instead it seemed to change places between them at a moment's notice. Truth be told, he'd be lying if he said that he didn't enjoy the times when she allowed him control over their lovemaking, or if he didn't love when she pushed him to his back and showed him she was no pushover either.
"You're already so wet for me, you want this as much as I do don't you?" he asked as his fingers continued their trek over her moist core, where his manhood was resting so tauntingly against her inner thigh. His ego reveled in her trembles and the light thrusts of her hips as her body sought its release faster than he was currently allowing, and he'd be damned if the heat of her core against his manhood wasn't driving him crazy.
"Oh God yes…" she cooed as her head fell back to rest against his shoulder as two of her major pleasure centers were teased at once. Her hands sought out his and her smaller hands rested atop his longingly as he continued to fondle her gently. He was struck by the intimacy of the action as he lovingly looked over to her face, which was only facing him because her head had lulled to the side on his shoulder. Seeing her eyes closed tight in pleasure as she seemingly guided him along, it was almost too much for him to take. For once she was allowing him to simply be with her without her endless passion reciprocating. She was allowing him to simply love her, tease her, and for once in her life she was acting like a woman, melting into his touch like a candle to a flame.
"Oooooooooh, you bastard…I'm going to get you for this…" she moaned out the threat, which sounded like nothing of the sort in the sensual tone it was uttered in.
He chuckled softly. So much for her acting like a woman.
He started planting moist kisses on the shoulder near his head, trailing ever so slowly to her collarbone, then the line of her jaw, and her threat was suddenly forgotten at the heavenly sounds that started coming from her mouth. She desperately tried to meet his lips with hers only for him to start trail after trail of those same kisses everywhere but against her lips, where she wanted them so badly. She whimpered when the fire he had relit reached the point she wanted it and she finally managed to meet his lips as her hips bucked wildly against his hand as her climax overtook her. She was vaguely aware of the hardness between her thighs as she pumped them forward into his hand and her back met his front with each wild thrust she made to keep the sensation going. As her body was gradually numbed by the pleasure overtaking it she never stopped in her assault on his lips, and he kissed back with slow, leisurely movements that halted her quickness and simply let the love inside her simmer joyously as she relaxed again back into his strong frame.
Without any vocal prompting he slowly picked her up and walked them over to his bed, where he laid her down softly before covering her body with his. He loved the way his body trembled and reacted when her hands contently traced unknown designs over his abdomen and arms as he positioned himself at her entrance and her legs gradually wrapped themselves around his waist until they were fully joined once again. The slow lovemaking was like an apology for the way he had lost control in the shower, but that reason was gone and forgotten as they simply basked in their love as they started kissing again, timing each loving caress of their lips to the tune of their meeting thrusts. Their bodies, their souls, their hearts, their everything was reveling in each other as they made love with a slowness they never had before, drawing out each stretch of pleasure and moan of delight in ways they never thought possible.
Each thrust was timed, each touch like a prayer; each sound was like the praise of angels and each heartfelt kiss like paradise incarnated. Each nerve was lit and left, each muscle was tensed and uncoiled, each shock of bliss reverberated through their bodies and each second passed with the wear of an hour. Their bodies sang together in a symphony of sensation that could only be achieved by the symmetry of two who knew each other better than they knew themselves, two who wanted to keep gaining that knowledge until their time on earth was ended. Their love sang in the air like the warmth of a summer's breeze and their reiatsu wrapped themselves around their hosts with the gentility that was the true nature of the hearts in the two entwined bodies.
Their whispered words of love came out in almost unintelligible moans, nearly a mantra as their bodies met again and again, winding the coils of restraint within them tighter and tighter. Eventually the bliss became unbearable and their soft, long cries of release were like music to the other's ears. Tatsuki felt herself be filled with his wet heat and leaned up to kiss him again and he responded happily before falling over to her side.
She knew enough about him by now to know what he liked, and since she also loved this particular act, she had no problem with forcing her pleasurably numb legs to work just long enough for her to crawl onto him so she could rest her head on his shoulder and hear his pounding heartbeat. Her sweaty body reveled in the slick feeling of his arms as they coaxed their way around her and soon she was held in a gentle embrace against his chest.
The shower had been a formality before bed, since the 'picnic' had taken most of the day, and thus Ichigo simply reached down however far he was able and pulled up his covers to cover them both as the intense relaxation of their previous acts threatened their presence in the land of the conscious. At least they had locked the door, so that was one less thing to worry about.
"We have to get up for school tomorrow," she said lazily as her eyes fluttered and she yawned cutely, something Ichigo thought was far too endearing for the tomboy she wanted everyone to think she was.
"We will. I'll make sure we get up before everyone else so we can have another shower before they all get up," he replied in the same state as her as he let a long yawn escape him, one unlike the cute little sniffle Tatsuki had done.
"I love you Ichigo."
Those words would never lose their luster, not to him. He smiled contently at the body struggling in vain against the pull of sleep. "I love you too Tatsuki. Good night."
Then their world faded to oblivion.
…
There is very little one can say about the last days at school. Graduation was close and that meant so was the party that came with it, but otherwise the days at school were review for those evil tests ahead. Relatively boring.
Oh joy.
The sarcasm of the students' mindset could practically be seen in the air as they trudged through their last few days of prison. Thankfully they still had lunch to look forward to, and Tatsuki and Ichigo along with their friends had taken to the roof to enjoy their meals in each other's company.
It was hard to follow no matter how many times Tatsuki had heard the stories, because their favorite activity was talking about their adventures and all the crazy times that came with them. For example: Chad's easy defeat of the Eighth Division's third seat after all the boasting he did beforehand.
It was easy to laugh at her friend's' laughter, but that didn't mean she understood what they were talking about any more than she did before. It only reinforced the fact in her mind that Ichigo didn't mind that she hadn't been with them through all their adventures, he was fine with who she was. Soul Society was basically the only thing they talked about though, and she guessed that was because Hueco Mundo held way too many painful memories and not enough happy ones except those in the near Past and Present.
Rukia just
had to bring up the one thing she had been dreading though.
"So Ichigo, we're almost done your wedding plans! Not bad huh?" she said happily, clearly expecting praise for the information.
"About time," Ichigo muttered under his breath. "Any more days of Tatsuki disappearing right after school and I'd have blasted that damn gate to Soul Society."
"What'd you say!" The short woman asked indignantly, sounding much like she had when she had first seen Ichigo during his attempt at her rescue outside the Repentance Tower.
The young man recoiled and quickly tried to backpedal even though she hadn't heard what he had said. "I said….um…thanks! So what's the verdict on those anyways?" he asked innocently to try and get her off what he had just said, and it worked like a charm.
"Well!" Rukia shot into mode right away with excited enthusiasm. "We reserved one of the large fields by the graveyard because it was so perfect and an outside wedding sounded soooo romantic!"
Ichigo felt the sweat drip down his neck. "Sorry to interrupt Rukia, but why'do we need a
large field?"
"Because most of the Thirteen Divisions'll be there, that's why!" Rukia answered, like it was the most obvious answer in the world.
That got one response.
It went without saying that the boredom was soon to be ended.
"WHAT?!"
Orihime had jumped into Uryuu's arms at the loud outburst and even Chad's solitary eye visible from under his bangs was wide. Rukia, though thoroughly surprised at that reaction, continued unfettered. "What? You're a captain now, not to mention one of the saviors of Soul Society, so of course most of the Thirteen Divisions wants to be there at your wedding!"
The Vizard hero ran his hands through his hair as he started panicking and Tatsuki could only cringe beside him as unintelligible mumbles that sounded like "Bu—bu—bu…but…" came from him.
"Oh suck it up you big baby!" the ever-
compassionate Soul Reaper responded. "We've got most of our class coming too except the obvious idiots, so you better get used to the idea!"
Ichigo was still trying to wrap his mind around this. "B-But…no one will be able to see them…"
That made Rukia puff out her chest proudly. "Already taken care of! The Twelfth Division has been bored out of their minds lately so Captain Kurotsuchi jumped at the chance to make so many gigais!"
Ichigo felt the world start spinning around him. "And clothing? Everything's taken care of?"
Once more, Rukia's chest puffed out proudly. "Everything! Ishida's making the clothes; and since we know how comfortable you are in kimonos and Tatsuki's as likely to wear a dress as she is to kiss Chizuru, we made it a more traditional wedding, but that's only for the clothes thank you very much! Everything else is totally taken care of! The practice for the wedding is two days after the grad festivities, so you better get ready!"
Now the newly appointed captain had heard all of what she said, but the words 'Ishida' and 'making clothes' was all his mind was computing. Unwanted, the image of him in one of Uryuu's ghastly creations for Kon jumped into his mind and he felt his lunch start making a return trip.
The vein on Uryuu's temple throbbed as the genius teen read what was likely going through his friend's mind from his body language. "I'm planning on a pure white version of your Bankai for the wedding, no black for obvious reasons, so no need to be so thankful," he gritted out gratingly as he adjusted his glasses. Since Tatsuki had been present for the proceedings he had no need to tell of what she would be wearing. Besides, it wouldn't be proper for the groom to know anyway.
With that the orange haired young man visibly relaxed. "Okay, so other than the fact that there's way more people than I wanted, everything seems fine." He looked over at Tatsuki and smiled at her, but was slightly unnerved when he saw she was still cringing. "What's wrong?"
She mumbled something.
"Huh? I didn't get that."
Another mumble.
"What?"
Finally she pushed herself over to lean up by his ear and whispered what she had been trying to say in it.
Ichigo blanched.
"WHAT"DYA MEAN I HAVE TO
DANCE WITH THE ENTIRE SHINIGAMI WOMEN"S ASSOCIATION!"
Two problems with that. One: that would be embarrassing. And two, which was directly associated with problem one:
…He didn't know how to dance.
The
thump of unconscious flesh meeting flooring sounded through the roof.
It would seem the Association wasn't about to let one of their favorite boy-toys go without at least one thing to remember him by.
…
Afternoon came around and school ended, not like this particular person knew, or cared, about that.
A certain mocha-skinned woman was doing nothing, basically content to be bored out of her mind sitting watch over her lover's candy shop while he was out somewhere on an outing with his workers. She had had much too much work—in her own opinion that is—and had opted to defend the roost rather than go out. She had become rather enamored with television lately.
She lolled her head over disinterestedly when she heard the door shuffle open like it always did.
That was a quick trip, the cat princess thought lazily. However, who should meet her sleepy eyes but none other than her old Bankai pupil: Ichigo Kurosaki. Her eyebrow raised in question when she noticed his appearance. He always looked a little embarrassed around her but today he couldn't even look at her, and his cheeks bore the telltale signs of a light blush as he regarded her. She didn't know what he was blushing for; she was dressed…for once. Then, as his eyes darted from side to side like he didn't want anyone to know he was there, he stuttered out a question to her.
And Yoruichi Shihouin smiled.
…
School was close to ending, and as such the menacing exams that came with the end of such a critical year came with it. Tatsuki had never been one to snub her studies, and she knew since Ichigo held the number two spot out of the entire twelfth grade classes, she probably wasn't going to see him very much. Ever since the beginning of the year he, Chad, and Uryuu had been study partners for anything and everything and that group was together again once they knew exams were only a few short days away.
Naturally, letting the boys have all the fun wasn't her style, and she had gathered together Orihime and Rukia for their own little study sessions. It was a mystery why Rukia thought she needed to graduate, being that she was an ancient Soul Reaper and not a human, but she guessed it had something to do with Rukia's inherent need to finish what she started.
However, the study sessions had always been later in the day before, so that left Tatsuki wondering where Ichigo kept disappearing to right after school for the days leading up to exams. It was anyone's guess where he went for those hours leading up to the sessions the guys held every night, and she couldn't help but be curious as to where he was going. With that curiosity, also came the knowledge that she had no idea how to find him; because though she was an expert at tracking reiatsu and her Hollow specialized in it, his reiatsu would disappear for those hours in-between and leave no trace.
It wasn't like him to ignore her, but she knew what he knew she knew, which was pretty confusing in and of itself. He needed his grades and he wasn't trying to ignore her intentionally, for then he just needed some time without her to concentrate on something else. She had considered having the two groups have a joint study session between the six of them, but just being by Ichigo nowadays was a distraction to her, and she knew it was the same kind of situation for him.
Damn hormones.
Damn inner-Hollows.
She also wasn't one to lose sleep over tests, and she didn't. Just like all the other years she went into the exams as confident as she always was and just like every other student in school, cursed the teachers for making the tests so freaking hard. She hazarded a glance over at her fiancé every now and then and saw his face was in its typical 'scowl of concentration,' one of many amongst his vast array of scowls. Unlike her however, he seemed to have no trouble making his pencil fly across the papers and just like always, he was the second done after Uryuu. She huffed indignantly.
What do you expect? He probably got some studying done! I know we have a great memory, but would it have killed you to go over it more than once! And jeez, then we had to put up with that stupid twerp teasing us about our King too! Remind me again why we made those study sessions? The inner Queen groused.
Tatsuki was wondering that herself at the moment.
Still, no matter how hard it was, eventually she made it through it with no lasting brain damage.
She resolved to spend the next day in bed just to get rid of the monster headache those giant exams gave her. Why the schools decided to put more than one into one day was beyond her but right now she would have given her left arm for the chance to go one-on-one with the moron that made the final decision regarding that.
And then not only was there grad to put up with, but also a wedding rehearsal.
Can my life get any
more hectic! If she was like this, she could only wonder what her parents were going through.
Oh no. Her parents.
They don't know yet! As the old saying goes: be careful what you wish for.
She looked over at her alarm clock and saw that there was no way to call Ichigo now. Though the tests may be over, he had disappeared right after them as was his usual way for the past week, and since he didn't have any studying to do when he would normally reappear, she had a nagging feeling he simply wouldn't go home. She punched her fist into her open palm. She'd just have to get him bright and early tomorrow. She couldn't believe they forgot about her parents!
Now all she had to do was come up with a reasonable explanation for it.
Yeah, Mom, Dad, my soul was going to kill me if I didn't balance it out and Ichigo here volunteered to turn me into a Death God like him to keep me alive! One thing led to another and soon enough we found out we wanted to get married! Funny how things work huh? Yeah right. That would probably get her
killed.
Okay, Mom, Dad, you know that kid I beat way back when in Karate? Yeah the orange-haired kid. Turns out he has a body to kill for and can turn me into a puddle of wanton lust with a few strokes of his hand. We're getting married, whatd'ya say? No, not killed.
Dismembered. She groaned and let her head fall into her hands. Now she knew what Ichigo was going through when they were going to tell
his family. She knew she was probably going to be at a loss for words just like he was. What made it worse is they only had a few days to get the thought through their heads, and they couldn't see spirits like his family could, at least, she thought they didn't; so that made helping them understand that much harder than even normal circumstances.
This…was one battle even she wasn't sure she could win.
…
Ichigo shuffled his hands in his pockets as he walked to Tatsuki's while the sun rose in greeting to their side of the world. Sure, he had been a bit annoyed when she had called him so early, and his sore muscles were protesting the interruption in their sleep when they were still throbbing from Yoruichi, but what she had said had made him ignore all those things. It wasn't that he had forgotten per se, he had just been so busy his mind had put it low on his priority list.
Okay, he had forgotten.
Never mind that, he still couldn't get her voice out of his head. She had sounded completely lucid, and for that to have been possible the only logical conclusion was that she had never gone to sleep. More than anything, she sounded…scared. He didn't like that one bit. He was supposed to be protecting her; he knew he had to let her fight her own battles for her own sense of pride to survive, but her heart was
his to protect. True, it would be a lot harder to explain to her parents then it had been to his family, but the truth of the matter was they loved each other and they were going to get married. Come Hell or high water they would do that.
And he would
make her parents let him, if he needed to.
He could not allow himself to be separated from her, he just couldn't. Though the possibility had been present before, now the threat was much more viable that he would have to abandon his body and live with her in Soul Reaper form. Death to the world would be a small price to pay for an afterlife with her. It looked like Yuzu had finally grown enough to see him, so now he had no worries about leaving his body permanently.
He could only hope it never came to that.
He found himself in front of her front door much sooner than he thought. He hadn't even used Shunpo, just to give him a little more time to think, and yet here he was. He didn't really know what to do now though, for knocking had the possibility of waking up her parents and entering through her window would be way too shady now that he was in his physical body. Before he was given any more time to think about that however, the door opened from the inside. What he was greeted with was a tired form of his wife-to-be, and he could see that the stress had caused the lack of sleep to weigh in on her much more heavily than had she not been agonizing over the situation to come.
He could see the relief in her eyes as she looked at him, like he himself was her strength, and so he didn't risk saying anything. Instead, he simply took her in his arms and held her against his chest comfortingly.
It's okay Tatsuki. I won't let anything come between us now. You mean way too much to me for me to let something as little as anxiety tear us apart. "Tatsuki, it's sill really early. Get some sleep, then we'll face your parents together," he whispered solemnly, but when he looked closer he saw she was already asleep in his arms, asleep standing up.
Heh, she already knew what I was going to say. It's going to be all right my Queen, so rest easy. With that, he picked her up and carried her to the kitchen, where he sat down on one of the chairs with her nestled in his arms like an infant.
And waited.
…
Thankfully for Tatsuki, her parents didn't work that day and so they were allowed the rare luxury of sleeping in, a thing even better for the sleep-deprived young woman who had only recently allowed herself to succumb to sleep's embrace. Under normal circumstances the impatient person that was her fiancé would not have been too happy about this. But, since he was allowed to have her in his arms, held so lovingly to his body, he had no problems with the extended wait as sunrise turned to mid-morning.
In the intense silence that ruled the morning, interrupted only by the rare car passing by, his Hollow-like hypersensitive senses could hear the rustling of—thankfully—two sets of feet. Worse possible scenario was them waking up at different times, thus making him go through two sets of explanations and two sets of questions at different times. At least this way he could get it over with all at once. He could see them at the top of the stairs, rubbing their eyes sleepily as they walked in a seemingly zombie-like state down, likely to get coffee.
Lightly, he rustled the body in his grasp to try and get her to awake. It took some prodding, but she awoke rather easily and somehow her eyes still betrayed her fear even though one usually has no memory of what has happened for at least a few seconds after they wake up. He nodded his head over to where her parents were and her eyes followed as she straightened up in his grip, but not leaving it. She too rubbed her eyes just to get rid of some of the residual sleepiness and watched as her parents gradually became aware of the fact that there was another person in their house, and the fact that their daughter was currently sitting in his lap. Rather intimately.
"Wh-what's going on Tatsuki!" her father asked confusedly as he looked at her, then who was holding her, then back again repeatedly like some kind of bobble-head doll.
Her mother was in a similar state, looking back and forth like a confused child. Tatsuki had wanted to follow her mother's strength; that was half the reason why she had started Karate in the first place. So, seeing her only daughter in a position that suggested a change from that professed manliness—a change she herself had gone through after finding the right man to show that side to—had her at quite simply: a loss for words.
Calmly, Ichigo stood up and set Tatsuki down on her feet, but he didn't let her leave his side. He preferred the saying 'actions speak louder than words,' so it was only natural for him to slink his arm around her waist as she stood beside him. She gulped at his bold action but she couldn't bring herself to tell him to stop. In all honesty she wanted it, needed it even.
This only proved to make her parents more confused.
"M-Mom…D-Dad…I have something….to tell you…" Tatsuki stuttered slowly.
This was a new one on them. Their daughter never stuttered. She was confident and sure in everything she did and if people rejected her point of view, it was a swift kick in the pants for them and heaven help them were they to stand back up again. There was one response Tatsuki and Ichigo hadn't taken into consideration though, and just as so many times before in their lives, fate decided to intervene with the one thing they didn't expect.
"My little baby's getting married…" Mrs. Arisawa said happily as tears flowed down her face and she held her hands in front of her mouth like she was praying. Mr. Arisawa was standing proudly beside his wife with his arm around her shoulders, and he was looking at her…
them…with pride written all over his loving gaze.
The two in question could only stand there, seemingly frozen in time as they stared at the two adults. Tatsuki should have known her mother would see through her in one fell swoop just like she did, but that didn't stop them both from thinking:
How on earth does she know! "Ah! I remember you now!" Mr. Arisawa exclaimed. "You're the Kurosaki boy aren't you? I thought you looked familiar!"
Mrs. Arisawa obviously hadn't come to the same conclusion yet. "You're little Ichigo? Whewee you sure turned out nice!"
Tatsuki turned bright red. "MOM!"
"What? I'm allowed to compliment him aren't I?" her mother asked back in rebuttal, using the tone Tatsuki used all the time when she wanted to get across her point. "Anyways, young man, I approve!"
Ichigo visibly let loose a sigh of relief and so did Tatsuki.
"So, who's paying for the wedding?" Mr. Arisawa asked in perfect lucidity, which said something of the shock to his system. Coffee had nothing on hearing your little girl was getting married.
"Already taken care of, so are the plans. The rehearsal's in a few days so you better get ready!" Tatsuki exclaimed proudly.
Tears started beading in Mrs. Arisawa's eyes like that of a hurt child and her lower lip pouted exactly like her daughter's always did. "You left your own mother out of the wedding planning! How could you!" And she threw herself into her husband's arms exaggeratedly.
Wow, she could give Rukia a run for her money in acting! Ichigo pondered inwardly.
"Sorry to drop this on you like this; our lives have been pretty insane these past couple of weeks. It's going to be a huge wedding regardless so you might as well invite any relatives you want," the young man said nonchalantly. His way of thinking was basically, '
I'm screwed already so I might as well make it bigger.' That, and he didn't want Tatsuki's mother to dwell on something she didn't yet know she really wouldn't have wanted to be a part of. God only knew what the Association might have been able to con her into.
"Is your family really that large?" his future mother-in-law asked curiously.
Ichigo shook his head. "No, but in order for you to understand what's going on you'd have to know some very important things first."
This got a silence of confusion from the two parents.
Tatsuki gulped down her courage and mustered up the strength to ask, "Do you believe in ghosts?"
Their eyes suddenly locked and Tatsuki got the sinking feeling they knew more than they had thought. "I've been seeing these weird spirit-things for while now. I can't explain it, all I know is I've never been able to before and for the past year and a half or so I've been able to," Mrs. Arisawa explained as she rubbed the back of her head.
Ah, another person affected by all the reiatsu me and the others were radiating back when we were battling the Arrancars. No big surprise, Aizen did want to use Karakura Town because it had the highest concentration of spiritually-aware people, Ichigo thought seriously.
"Then there's something you should know," he began. "You know about spirits, but there are other beings in the spiritual world called 'Soul Reapers' or more accurately, 'Shinigami.' They balance the souls between the Living World and someplace called the Soul Society. My family isn't very large because my father came here from that other world, a Shinigami that fell in love with a human. Because of that, and some other events, I suddenly became a Soul Reaper myself when I was fifteen…"
…
Thus, the explanation of his life was given to Tatsuki's parents with little detail withheld, until when he stopped at what had happened in the current time it was well into the afternoon.
"Wow…" Tatsuki's father whispered.
"Yeah, wow…" Mrs. Arisawa agreed in the same breathless tone.
"Don't worry, while we're different from regular Soul Reapers that difference makes us extremely powerful! Normally people like us would be cast out but I've earned enough brownie points to stop a whole lot of prejudice!" Ichigo proclaimed proudly.
"It's just…so hard to believe…"
A strange sound alerted their attention and it was soon followed by another of the same before two
thumps followed those. When they looked up from their downcast, disbelieving looks, they saw two black-clad people standing over their daughter and son-in-law's bodies. Identical was it not for the clothes.
"Holy…" they both gulped silently.
They got the feeling life would never be the same from now on.
…
Author's Notes: Hehe. Thanks for reading!
