72Author's Notes: So the first chapter was not very plot-ful (shut up, it's a word now) since I had to do so much back story and description. But I promise it'll pick up! Just bear with me cause I DO have a direction I'm going with everything! And I don't really have many reviews yet (so sad) but I understand that it'll help having more than one chapter. I also apologize at how short this chapter feels (to me, at least). I'm trying to get in plenty of dialogue since I know it interests more people than the description and narration does. But if you have requests/suggestions then I am all ears!
Chapter 2
The front door slammed behind them, bringing all conversation in the home to a halt. All sounds, save for the boiling pot on the stove and the sound of shoes being removed, ceased. All eyes in the kitchen turned to inspect the additions to their dinner party. A sandy-haired young woman with warm, gentle brown eyes smiled over to their guests, tapping the wooden spoon in her hand against the pot before putting it down, motioning to taking off her apron. The older man with untamed black hair, a little silver just beginning to shine at his temples, and an unshaven face hovering over the stove near her suddenly backed up and cast a huge grin toward the entry way. A young woman with soft black hair popped out of the dining chair she was straddling backward and jogged into the living room, grinning.
"Ichi-nii! Rukia-nee!"
Rukia was the first to get a bear hug from her little sister-in-law, unable to keep the grin off her face. "Karin! It's been too long!" It had been months since Karin could be convinced to take a break from school and her soccer team to come home to visit.
"I know," Karin replied sheepishly, brushing some of the long, straight hair that fell out of her high ponytail behind her ear. She turned her dark grey, nearly black, eyes to her older brother when one his hands was placed firmly on her head. She gripped herself to his chest tight, trying to tell herself she wasn't the little girl who worried about her nii-san anymore. Ichigo gave her an affectionate squeeze and tugged on her hair. She managed to pull back and regain her senses enough to poke Ichigo in the chest with emphasis. "At least Rukia messages me on a regular basis though."
Now it was his turn to look sheepish. He rubbed the back of his neck as he gave one of his twin sisters a half smile. They both grew up so fast. Girls turned women. They were both now taller than Rukia, Karin roughly five foot five inches and Yuzu just behind her at five foot three inches. Karin had the mischievous face and the discerning eyes that Ichigo also inherited but became quite a looker. Good thing she knew how to protect herself and never let a guy get away with anything. Ichigo would have to go bankai on some sorry boy's ass otherwise and Tokyo was quite a trek. Yuzu, on the other hand, will probably need his intervention sooner or later. She was downright docile compared to her twin and, with all the lighter-colored beauty that she inherited from their mother, she was quite the idol at Karakura Community.
"Sorry. Between school, work, and the midget – OW! Why am I constantly abused by the women in my life?" He grumbled in pain, torn between holding his gut and his head, one from each of the dark-haired beauties near him.
Karin couldn't stop her laughter, turning to motion to the whole family. "Sometimes I would wonder how I lived with you all for so long without going crazy but sometimes I really miss this."
Her twin came over to get a hug from the couple as well, their father following right along, oddly calm for him as he shoved his hands in his pockets and smiled at his children. "It's not the same without you, Karin. You really should visit more." Yuzu was practically glowing, finally having her whole family present to cook for. She brushed the ends of her wavy hair off her shoulder and then looked to their brother to add, "And you too, Ichi-nii. Even Rukia-nee makes it over more often than you."
Before her brother could provide something resembling an adequate excuse his father jumped in after letting his daughters get their greetings in first, grabbing both Rukia and Ichigo in a rib-crushing hug. "We'll forgive him if he's been making grandbabies, right girls?"
"Can't breathe…"
"Put us down, old man!"
"Right!"
"Oh god, Yuzu, you've been around him too long…"
Dinner for the Kurosaki family was the usual for them. There was some bickering, some laughing, some sharing, some aggravation, and plenty of affection. Yuzu's meal of choice, grilled fish, miso soup, and curried rice and vegetables, was a major hit, which in turn earned her more poking and prodding to just transfer to a culinary arts program in Tokyo or Kyoto. But they were met with the same responses each time: Yuzu couldn't leave the clinic that needed her, couldn't leave her family, and that it just wasn't for her to take on the world like her siblings.
Karin shared stories of her journalism professors and how well she was doing in her classes. She also proudly handed out her soccer team's play schedule, fully expecting her family to make it to at least one game during the season. Ichigo was relieved to report that he had less than a year to go for his schooling before he could begin his residency back in the clinic and that he and Rukia will be looking for a home soon. He had already insisted that their father and Yuzu stay in the home attached to the business and it go to her as inheritance whenever the old goat found himself in Soul Society again. Yuzu was ok with that plan if for the only reason that she was excited about house-hunting with Rukia for the next couple of months.
For himself, Isshin didn't speak much on the clinic and instead directed all of the wonderful news to the portrait of Masaki Kurosaki on the wall near the dining table. But, of course, when conspiring with the inanimate object the topic of conversation always leads back to the same thing with him.
"Where are my grandbabies?" he turned on his son with a fist balled in passion.
"If you don't stop it, old man, I will take my wife and walk right out of here!" Ichigo didn't even deign it necessary to look up from his spot on the table, sipping at his tea. Honestly, he just wanted the geezer to drop it. They weren't even 100% sure if Rukia could bear children since she'd be the first female shinigami-turned-human for Urahara to 'test his theory' on. Thus she was put on birth control and began having regular periods, which, honestly, Ichigo could live without. Her restraining from intimacy for a whole week at a time because she hated the mess would leave him ornery by the end of it.
But more importantly, he didn't want her to get her hopes up on something they may never have. He had long ago accepted the fact that it may never happen and he was surprisingly ok with it. He had her and needed nothing else.
"I'm not getting any younger here and Masaki and I want grandbabies! Do you need me to give you 'the talk' on what you should do to-?" Isshin wiggled his eyebrows up and down suggestively.
"Dad…" Yuzu stepped in to try and halt the explosion that she felt was imminent. Everything was going so well up to that point.
"Ha ha! I'm glad you're the oldest, Ichi-nii!" Karin, of course, provided no assistance and just laughed at the growing scowl and tensed eyebrows on her older brother. Rukia just tried her best to ignore them, placing her fingertips to her temples and concentrating on the grain pattern on the table.
Ichigo's head whipped in Karin's direction and he pointed at her with a fully stretched out arm. "You're not even allowed to think about babies, boys, or… or…"
"Sex?"
"YES! Not until you're graduated, at least! Or thirty!" She loved the little tick mark and the twitch it gave her older brother whenever it was implied that his little sisters could be, well, mature, to put it lightly.
"Ichigo, stop being so overbearing." His raven-haired partner sighed and pulled him back down into his chair with a roll of her eyes.
"Don't you mean protective?" He practically twitched at her.
With a smirk on her face, "No, I actually mean controlling and hypocritical." She beamed back at him.
"Wha…? I am not!" he popped back out of his chair to gape at her, even his father chuckling at his discomfort.
"Ichigo, they're gorgeous, grown-up, 20 year old women." She raised an eyebrow at him for emphasis, as they were having sex together by that age. "I bet they have to beat suitors off on a daily basis. And you know what? Good for them!"
"I'll kill any-!" Were his eyes starting to darken?
"Oh stop, Ichi-nii. I don't plan on getting serious anytime soon with my soccer career taking off. I didn't put this much work into it to give it up so easily." With a roll of her eyes and a gulp of the last of her tea, she walked her empty cup into the kitchen.
"What about you, Yuzu? Any hunky Romeo type vying for your affections?" His wife was just baiting him at this point and she loved every second of it.
"My lovely daughter gets love notes on a weekly basis! I just can't seem to get her to leave work long enough for even a single date!" Isshin practically sobbed, running back over to the portrait on the wall. "Masaki, my love, why won't any of our children give us grandbabies?"
"You're trying to make her date? What the hell is wrong with you?"Ichigo grabbed his father by the collar of his colorful shirt.
"Would you rather go back to talking about you and Rukia-chan giving me grandbabies?" The older Kurosaki gave his son a sly, easy grin, not fazed at all by the tension in the hand grabbing his shirt.
"…" The orange-haired man was thrown a bit off balance by that but sighed and released his hold, "No… But I don't think Yuzu-"
Unfortunately, Isshin took his daughter's name coming out of his son's mouth as a sign that he has not admitted defeat and effortlessly switched his target. "First we need to take Rukia-chan off birth control-!"
"OK! I GOT IT! Yuzu can date!" Ichigo was practically billowing smoke in the home in frustration. He audibly growled and stomped back over to stand behind Rukia. "… But I'll still kill any man that touches her…" he added in a grumble.
If Rukia had taken Isshin's psychotic obsession a bit more seriously, she wouldn't even consider trusting him as the doctor that wrote and filled her prescription for birth control. She would have suspected him long ago of sabotaging her pills. But instead she rolled her eyes and went to sit next to Karin, prepared to distract the attention elsewhere, for both Ichigo's and Yuzu's sakes. "So tell me all about your new title, Karin! I heard from Yuzu you got some kind of promotion on the team?"
"New title?" Ichigo was immediately brought back, having gone from near homicidal about at the thought of his sisters keeping that kind of intimate company to being a curious and proud older brother.
"Karin is now co-captain of the soccer team! And she's only a sophomore! She could be captain by next year!" Yuzu's beaming joy and excitement and Isshin's puffed out chest were enough to bring a little shy modesty to the darker twin.
"Karin is a fukutaicho?" And there was Rukia joining the team of proud, ecstatic Kurosakis. Her violet eyes widened and sparkled, holding onto said woman's upper arm.
"Ano… Not really the same thing, Rukia-nee…" Karin fidgeted in her seat with her hand gripping the back of her neck nervously. Not that she wasn't honored herself but she didn't want them thinking it was more than it was, especially considering what being a lieutenant meant to someone like Rukia. She wanted them to set the bar only just high enough for her to reach and impress everyone.
"Don't be so modest!" Isshin placed both of his hands on her shoulders, his chest still comically puffed out. "You are second in command and an exalted leader to your teammates! You are a true Kurosaki!"
"That's wonderful, Karin!" Ichigo leaned over and ruffled her hair, more of her hair escaping her ponytail and tousling it enough to appear like she just crawled out of bed. Karin growled and reached up to fix it but smiled up at everyone.
And so the conversation fell into a more comfortable tone. It helped the rest of the family to occasionally ignore their father, however. Rukia was at the table with Karin, going over the soccer schedule to see what weekend and city were the most convenient for her and Ichigo to plan to visit and watch one of her games. Isshin had gotten excited enough to go on a hunt for his video camera so that whenever someone went to visit they'd be able to bring back a recorded memento.
Ichigo was comfortably relaxing in the living room reading the local newspaper. It was so easy to fall back into an easy feeling in his childhood home, his sisters and best friend/lover creating a warm lull of sound in the kitchen, and his father's antics distracting them all from worries or concerns about 'the real world' for a while. This was how it should always be. And when his mind wondered back to how it all started and his initial battle with Soul Society to save Rukia from her execution… and then to the fight with Soul Society and Rukia herself to keep her with him, he smiled. She had been so stubborn, so sure that it was impossible, so ready to sacrifice her happiness again for what she thought was the best for him. He'd do it all over again. He even found himself wondering if he's done this all before, in another life.
But before his sentimental thoughts could take him any deeper, a sandy blonde head poked itself over his paper. His sister's eyes were wide and concerned, her mouth turned ever-so-slightly downward.
"Hey, Yuzu. Is something wrong?"
"I know Dad didn't want me mentioning anything… or making you worry…" She fidgeted in place, glancing over to the stairway where their father was still hunting down the video camera and whatever else he was distracted by.
Ichigo nodded his head toward the front door for them to be able to talk without interruption. Placing his paper down on the coffee table, he followed her out, giving a nod to his wife when she looked over to make sure everything was all right. He grabbed both his jacket and one of hers from the closet. It may not be the dead of winter any more but the late March air was still cool in the evenings. He draped Yuzu's purple pea coat over her shoulders before shrugging into his light brown leather jacket.
"I wanted to let you know about the clinic…" Yuzu pulled her arms into the coat and immediately began fidgeting with the buttons on it.
"I know Rukia said things have been strained here lately. But I'll be graduating in no time and be able to come help out." Ichigo shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans and leaned against the wall next to the door, watching his sister's nervous ticks with concern. It was something rarely discussed out loud but the Kurosaki clinic was not in business the way it used to be. They were under-staffed and losing funding, which in turn meant losing patients. Everyone in the town seemed to be turning away from community-based clinics and towards larger, conglomerate-type businesses like Ishida's hospital. And it was difficult to compete with that kind of money, size, and advertising.
"It's not just that, Ichi-nii. I don't know how we'll be able to pull through another year." Yuzu's chocolate eyes glanced over at the locked up clinic attached to their home. "It's everything. We're running out of supplies, our equipment is old, patients are not coming in, and… and even Ono-san has left."
Ichigo blinked a few times and pushed off the wall. Ono Kasumi was the clinic's receptionist and had been working there since Ichigo had started high school. She was a well-organized and soft-spoken older woman who had loved the family atmosphere in the clinic. She provided lollipops to the children and soothed the worries of the anxious adults. She was on time every morning and never complained if she had to stay after to help close up. She was a staple to the clinic and now she was gone too?
"What? Why?" He couldn't stop the question from coming out of his mouth.
"She mentioned something about her grandchildren…" His sister stopped playing with the buttons on her front and crossed her arms under her breasts, hugging herself. "But I think it was hard on her not being able to receive the same pay as she used to." Yuzu took a deep breath and turned her body fully towards her brother. "Ichi-nii, no one has taken her position yet. I've been doing my best to work for the clinic while going to school but it's going to be impossible once my clinicals are rotated and I'm working during the day."
Nodding his head once, he glanced down at his feet. He knew things were becoming tough on his family but he hadn't been told just how bad it had become. A solution wasn't quick to come to his mind but he glanced up at the worried face of his little sister and creased his brows together in determination. "Don't worry, Yuzu. We'll find a way. Thanks for telling me."
The train rumbled lightly around them as the shinigami substitute and shinigami noble rode back to their apartment. Rukia had dozed off on his shoulder soon after boarding. He was pretty sure she was overworking herself with classes, clinicals, and making regular trips by train to help his sister at the clinic. The problem was trying to figure out where to cut her schedule to give her a break. She wanted to graduate so badly from something. She never got the chance to even attempt at completing the Shinigami Academy the honorable way since she was adopted into the Kuchiki clan. She didn't get to graduate high school with him, though he did try to coax her into it. She didn't feel she had the right to walk the stage with everyone who had worked so hard for three years* when she didn't even complete a full year consecutively.
And now all of this bad luck and horrible timing with her getting sick that first time with the flu and now the clinic… Everything kept putting it off for her and he couldn't stand it. She had to have some of the worst luck he's ever experienced. And yet, she never let it really get to her. She was ok with getting the short end of the stick as long as her teammates, friends, and family were ok. Hell, she was even letting her own heart break thinking she'd leave Ichigo to live his life without her in the Living World while she went back to the Soul Society. She had actually convinced herself that it was one-sided and that the best possible thing for him was to simply disappear.
And he had one hell of a time proving her wrong. True, it definitely embarrassed her to practically have the entire Gotei 13 witness to him forcibly courting her. He grinned at the memory. He was never one for public displays of affection or confessions but seeing her stutter and blush and winning her heart in front of her comrades, her superiors, and her brother just made him an arrogant and positively elated man.
But he'd be damned now if she wasn't to get everything her heart desired.
His arm wrapped around her small form as she slept on his shoulder, her head having moved down to rest against his clavicle, he gave her a gentle squeeze. "Rukia, hey. Our stop is next. C'mon, wake up, midget."
She grumbled lightly at him, trying to sound annoyed through her exhaustion. Even she couldn't figure out why she was just so damned tired. She skipped classes today, slept in an extra hour and a half before Ichigo woke her up, and did mostly nothing all day – household chores and family time notwithstanding. She had gone much longer without rest or sleep before, especially in her duties as a shinigami. Was it her human body perhaps? Age? She'd blame it all on Urahara because, after all, she was not that soft.
"Don't make me carry you, you chibi." He jibed with a light tug on her hair.
She pursued her lips and gave him a very tired kick to his shin from her sleeping position, her legs crossed and pressed against the side of his. "If I'm such a chibi then you should have no problem doing just that." She couldn't help herself from grinning a bit. "Or is the great and powerful shinigami substitute just not what he used to be?"
He growled in her ear and squeezed her again. "If you want me to carry you then just say so. But don't bait me or you'll regret it as soon as I close our bedroom door, woman."
She let out a light laughed, moving further into his warmth. "Everything has to go back to that with you, doesn't it?" She didn't wait for a response before she felt herself start to drift back to sleep. She never felt the train stop nor heard the speaker announce the stop. But she was certainly aware when a cold, night breeze hit her face. She blinked a few times and felt her surroundings slowly through a hazy fog of exhaustion. She was being carried gently, pressed against the warm chest of her husband, ever her protector (even when she insisted against it). She could smell him through the leather of his jacket and smiled. She could feel his strong but gentle grip under her shoulders and her knees.
They were making their way down the quiet sidewalk and nearing the entryway to their apartment building, the light from the lobby illuminating the path in front of the windows. Ichigo must have felt her stir in his arms as he softly spoke down to her in a teasing, but affectionate, tone.
"I suppose I'll let you off the hook tonight. Though I wonder if it's your payback for the comment today about the pancakes." He smirked down at her and she could almost feel it on the top of her head. Tilting her head back just enough to smile up at him.
"Karma," she whispered back with a smirk of her own.
He stepped into the stairwell, not bothering with the elevator that half the time would get stuck between floors. They were only on the third floor anyway. He slowly made his way up the steps, careful not to bounce her around too much.
"How about if I let you sleep in tomorrow?" He fumbled around in his pocket for the keys, balancing her on his arm as best he could so he wouldn't have to put her down.
She hummed appreciatively into his chest. "That would be very nice." Feeling them step over the threshold into their apartment, the soothing warm hit her face, easing the chill. She had thought that she would be put on her feet immediately but instead felt him crouch down to set her rear on his bent knee, still cradling her shoulders. He slipped her shoes off her feet at the foyer but didn't bother with her coat. He picked her back up and strode into the bedroom.
"Hm, buttering me up for something, Ichigo?" She tried not to yawn behind the question.
"Maybe," he lied. She could tell. "I know you've been worn out lately." He placed her on the bed gently and unbuttoned her coat, coaxing her arms out of it. "I'm just hoping all you need is a good night's rest and that you're not getting sick again."
"Ugh," she turned her head into the soft, inviting pillow, remembering how god awful it had been to throw up every couple of hours and how incredibly weak her body had been. "Don't jinx me."
He chuckled as he pulled the coat out from under her then stripped her feet of her socks. Throwing them into a small basket in the corner of the room, he turned to go get her some sleepwear to change into. But upon returning to her side, he found that she had already fallen back to sleep. He placed the night shirt on the night stand next to her and went to wiggle the covers out from under her to tuck her in properly.
Barely caring to get ready for bed himself, he merely stripped his shirt and pants and crawled under the covers next to her in his boxers. Sliding one arm around her slim frame to hold her close, he leaned up on his other to look down at her slumbering face. Ichigo brushed some of her dark hair that tickled against his face and smiled. "You better not get sick just to spite me, midget."
Nii-san – (onii-san, nii-sama, nii-chan, ani, etc) These are all ways of saying 'older brother'. In Japanese, there is no way of saying 'brother' without indicating whether he's older or younger. And depending on the honorific added at the end is how formal or respectful it is. Karin and Yuzu almost strictly refer to their older brother as "Ichi-Nii" in the series, which is downright adorable.
Nee-san – (onee-san, nee-sama, nee-chan, ane, etc.) Anyone who has watched the series in Japanese should recognize this as what Kon refers to Rukia as. It's also a common way to refer to a slightly older woman (whether out of respect or being flirty) but it's the indication of being an older sister.
Bankai – The second release of a shinigami's zanpakuto. Mastering it is required to be a captain (taicho) in the Gotei 13.
Fukutaicho – Vice-captain or lieutenant. The second in command after the captain of a squad in the Gotei 13.
Ano – The Japanese equivalent of the western "um…" or "uh…" Another common version of this is "eto…".
Also important to note is that when I list someone's full name, I plan on trying to keep it to authentic Japanese style and putting the family name first. Also, you won't find me using "Mr./ Mrs./ Ms./ Miss" because, well, they're ALL the same suffix in Japanese (san). I may not stay authentic on everything but I'm going to try my best!
*ONE more note, seriously. Just wanted to add in that high school for the Japanese is just three years. It's similar to how American schools used to be organized: elementary/grade school used to go up to 6th, junior high, then high school being 10th through 12th.