Falling Petals

Epilogue

Orihime stared at Zakura happily. Every last trace of the poison and disease had been erased from the tree. At the same time Byakuya had made a full recovery. He was standing beside her as her shield drop, having cleansed the last bit of poison out of Zakura.

It had taken a fair amount of time to cleanse it all away, but she had not stopped until Zakura was standing tall and healthy once more. Beside the large tree little Naegi was growing strong.

She never did learn who the man had been, but she had been able to discern he had been some member of the family. No one spoke of it and Rukia had taken pity on her to explain that those who disgraced the family were considered dead to them.

One of the trees from the garden had been removed but she didn’t know whose and frankly she didn’t care. All she cared about was that everyone else was safe and Byakuya was once more his old self.

She dared to glance at him out of the corner of her eye. He stood beside her in full uniform with his back straight, reminding her greatly of the Taichou she had first seen when they had come to rescue Rukia so long ago.

“Sooo.” She started nervously.

There was no danger to his life anymore and she wondered if the family wouldn’t now begin looking for a more suitable wife for him. When they had trapped her here there had been next to no hope that he would even live.

He turned fully to face her and she did the same. He took one of her hands in his and used the other to tip her head up so their eyes could meet.

“I owe you my life.” He said.

“It was nothing.” She murmured embarrassed.

“Regardless, it is yours. And I am grateful.”

She nodded her head and tried to turn away, but his hand held her still. He took a step towards her and she felt her heart begin to hammer in her chest as the distance between them closed.

“Are you happy here?” He asked.

“I am adjusting. It’s just really different.”

“That is not what I asked.”

“I don’t know.” She admitted. “It’s all still new.”

“I desire that you will find happiness here.”

She blushed and this time he did let her drop her gaze, but only so he could pull her body flush against his. She stiffened in surprise.

“You are my wife, regardless of how the events occurred.”

She relaxed against him and hesitantly brought her arms around him. She felt surprisingly safe and comforted. They remained like that as the last blossoms from the flowered Sakura trees floated past them on a gentle breeze.



“I am so excited.” Rukia exclaimed happily as she ran beside Orihime in the 4th.

Orihime was on a stretcher as she was wheeled through the halls, wishing she was dead. No one ever told her giving birth was going to be this painful. They finally arrived at the delivery room and she was moved onto the half chair, half bed delivery seat. Rukia was required to stop at the door and wished her a far too cheerful “good luck.”

Right now the only thing Orihime wanted to do was kill something, anything, anyone. No. A certain someone. Oh yea the thought of strangling her husband for doing this too her was a great idea.

No scratch that, strangle the rest of the accursed family, starting with Jousou, for getting her in this mess in the first place!

She laughed a bit manically at the thought of strangling the elder with a rope of liquorice before the pain of another contraction hit her and the innocent candy in her mind turned to barbed wire.

Than she didn’t have anytime to think of revenge on those responsible for putting her here because the contraction were coming faster and harder.

“Breath, just breath.” She repeated to herself over and over. “I only feel like I am dying. It will pass.” She consoled herself.

The nurses were telling her how great of a job she was doing and ordering her to push, but she hardly heard them. Suddenly everything gave way and the sound of a baby crying filled the room.

The nurses cooed and wrapped the baby up after gently cleaning it and handing the child to her.

Suddenly everything seemed alright as she looked at the baby girl in her arms. She was helped out of the delivery chair and onto a stretcher to be moved to a private room. The moment they were out of the delivery room she was surrounded by the rest of the family, all eager to see the long awaited heir.

It was later in the evening as she was resting, and the rest of the family had been banished by a very firm Unohana, that her husband slid onto the bed next to her.

The last eight months had been interesting and awkward as they stumbled their way through the marriage they had been trapped into and came to terms with it and their feelings for each other.

She was far more comfortable with him now than she had been at the beginning of their relationship. She felt like a real member of the family and not some outside intruder now.

“Beautiful.” Byakuya said as they looked down at their sleeping daughter. “We need a name.” He commented.

“Midori.” She answered almost instantly.

“Kuchiki Midori.” He tried before giving his head a nod of acceptance.

She smiled and settled into the bed more comfortably, cradling Midori. Byakuya settled in beside her.

“May I?” He asked hesitantly.

She smiled at the nervous tone and look on his face. She handed Midori over and watched amused as he held her like she would break if he so much as breathed too hard. He seemed to gain confidence as Midori continued to sleep peacefully.

A soft smile slowly lit his face as he gazed down at their daughter. He smiled so rarely and she had a feeling she was one of the very few that got to see it. She snuggled in closer to him.

He lifted one arm and placed it around her, pulling her in closer. She offered him a warm smile and slowly drifted off to sleep. It had been a strange path getting here, but when she thought about it she didn’t in the least bit regret it.

As soon as they got home she was introduced to the staff that would become her daughters care taker. She was surprised when she learned that she really wasn’t expected to even raise her own daughter, no even to FEED her.

Well, that was the first thing she corrected them in and she made it quite clear she was perfectly capable of raising her own child. There was a hint of amusement from her husband and she turned a glare on him.

Without bothering to further acknowledge anyone she turned towards the Sakura gardens and made her way towards Naegi and Zakura.

“Hi guys.” She greeted the trees warmly. “I want to introduce you to Midori-chan.” She held the child up so the two trees could see. “You’ll have one soon too.” She smiled at Midori.

She settled at the base of Zakura so she could stay in the shade. Naegi wasn’t quite tall enough yet. Midori yawned and quickly went back to sleep. Orihime smiled softly at her daughter.

The pain of giving birth was already long forgotten as she looked at the small child in her arms. She had always wanted a child and now that she had one she couldn’t help the warm and fluffy feeling enveloping her.

“I can’t wait to teach you how to walk, and cook.” Orihime said softly. “Ooo I have so many famous recipes I can’t wait to show you. And I know your Otousan will have things to teach you too.”

“I wonder how much Reiatsu you will have?” She mused. “I bet you’ll be stronger than me in no time, but hopefully not too soon.” She giggled as she imagined chasing after a 5 year old already able to use Shunpo.

“I knew I would find you here.”

She looked up in surprise to see Byakuya approaching her. She made to get up but he waved her back down and settled in beside her. A soft smile touched his lips as he looked down at their daughter.

“Want to hold her?” She offered.

He held his hands out and she passed their daughter to her father. Once again she found it so amusing how he held her so carefully as if he was afraid she would shatter like glass.

His features eased into a soft look she doubted he had ever let anyone see before as he gazed down at the life he had helped to create.

“The Elders were displeased with your declaration of not needing the assistance of the Servants.” He commented with a hint of amusement.

“I don’t mind the help with dippers and such, but I can feed my own child.” She retorted.

Midori woke up and started to fuss. Byakuya handed their daughter back to her and she let the top of her kimono slide down to reveal a single breast. Midori calmed down as she began to feed.

She looked back to her husband to notice he was looking off to the distance. Orihime chuckled softly as she realized he was embarrassed. It would seem men of any technical race found a woman feeding her child uncomfortable.

Midori finished feeding and she held pulled her Kimono back up before folding one of the many blankets she had been gifted with over her shoulder and began to burp her. Her husbands eyes returned to the scene.

“So, can you tell how strong she will be yet?” She asked.

“Not until she is older and begins to develop.” He answered.

Before she could ask another question one of the many household servants arrived to inform them Dinner was ready. Byakuya stood up first and offered his hand down to her.

Smiling, she balanced Midori on her shoulder and took his hand in her own, letting him pull her up off the ground with ease. To her surprise he didn’t relinquish his hold on her hand once she was up.

She felt her heart fluttering as he escorted her to the dinning hall. One of the many servants the family had introduced her to was waiting at the entrance of the hall and with great reluctance she handed Midori over so the servants could see her bedded down.

“I just don’t like the idea of Midori-chan being dotted over. I don’t want her to become a spoiled girl.” She sighed as they took their places at the traditional table.

“I didn’t realize my behaviour could be referred to as: spoiled.” Byakuya commented slyly.

“But you ….. Oh.” She blushed in embarrassment as she caught on.

Of course he would have been raised the same way, with a host of servants to tend to his needs and he was definitely not spoiled, arrogant and with far too much ‘pride,’ but not spoiled or winy.

He gave her a soft grin that only caused her to blush deeper before he let his mask slip back up and Jousou was scowling at her for letting her control over her own emotions slip.

She responded by sticking her tongue out at the elder and giggling when the woman gave her a look of rage and probably would have said something had Ginrei not cleared his throat.

Orihime did do her best to reign her emotions in and at least pretend to sit proper. She had enough problem with the Elders and her rather slow uptake on the ways they expected her to act now that she was a Noble.

Under the table she felt a hand cover her own and give a soft squeeze. She smiled softly and squeezed back before the meal was served and as the Woman of the House she reached forward first to serve her Husband the first spoonful.

Servants did replace platters as they emptied and refilled Sake and tea pots but they did not actually serve the family itself. It was a great relief as Orihime was able to fix her plate her way.

The rest of the family had learned months ago not to look at her plate if they desired to keep their own appetite and she seriously wondered about their taste in food. Even Byakuya made sure to look anywhere but her plate during meal times.

“They have no idea what they are missing.” She lamented.


I didn’t realize how much shorter this chapter was than the rest. In fact it was only 3 pages long, but I managed to extend it to 6. I was thinking of ending the story off with the chapter from Twin Blossoms but I am pretty sure that’s against policy to post something twice.

I been thinking maybe of rewriting the one shot but from Orihime’s point of view and adding it to the end of this to wrap it up.

Thank you everyone for the reviews and I do appreciate the honesty Anon. I really do wish I could have added more romance, especially at the beginning, but it really was a sad scenario where he barely had the strength left to stand at that point and I didn’t want to down play how weak the poison was making him.

I will see what I can do about trying out something more Romatic in the future. When I think about it I don’t think I have written a romantic fict at all and the closest I can think of is Lover’s Come Together, so maybe I will revamp that one shot to round this little story off.

Once again thank you everyone for the great reviews.