Keeping Old Promises

Chapter 6

3 Days Later

Sokyoku Hill

The heavy kimono Ichigo wore made his sweating all the worse. He'd been standing there on the hill waiting for an even twenty minutes as everyone gathered. As he saw Rukia's and Rangiku show up with the rest of the SWA he lived up to his namesake, his face turning bright red as they started cheering and discussing Ichigo's and Retsu's babies. 'Whoa! Way too early for that line of thinking now!' If only his subconscious would pick up on that; the dream he had with him and Unohana making love by the waterfall kept coming back for the past three nights. In front of them were the other captains all lined up in their finest outfits; it wasn't every day that they got to celebrate a wedding quite like this. Even Kenpachi had come out in his best outfit: a captain's jacket that only had a few holes in it.

While most weddings the 13 Squads have don't usually have this kind of turnout, when Isane announced it to the SWA who announced it to everyone else, the gossip spread like wildfire: The hero who defeated Aizen and one of the most beloved captains were tying the knot. "Ichigo," the boy turned to the Head-Captain in front of him, "Get ready, the hour is almost upon us. 'Why does he have to be so dramatic about it?!' He understood that this was a big deal, but the old-man's "end-all be-all" attitude was not helping diffuse his tension.

Ichigo wasn't getting cold feet, quite the contrary. He and Retsu had used the three days to get to know each other. Wanting to get it out of the way and to let him hear it from her rather than for it to come up at the most inopportune moment, Retsu had come clean about her past as the first Kenpachi. Ichigo understood what it meant for her to admit that to him and, in his private moments, the fact that she had set the bar of insane bloodlust explained SOOOOOOO much about her… spontaneous personality.

Yuzu and Karin were standing nearby, dressed in some of Rukia's best kimonos alongside the Lieutenant. Like Ichigo, they had become accustomed to having Retsu around. To Yuzu it was like suddenly she had another mother again rather than having a sister-in-law and Karin saw her like the big sister she never had. Isshin had kept a low profile for the past three days, avoiding Ichigo while he and Retsu began to get acquainted with each other. Not wanting to stir up a commotion among the upper echelon of the soul society, Isshin kept one of Kyoraku's straw hats on his head and tried not to draw attention to himself as his son stood there.

As Retsu appeared Ichigo was awestruck by the look in her eyes. The kind captain was wearing a white robe with a hood contrasting against her shimmering ebony hair. For the first time in many of the captains lives Unohana had the look of a woman whose dreams had all come true. Her stunning look even made Kenpachi raise an eyebrow. The one leading her was Byakuya Kuchiki, acting as the "Father giving the bride away". As the bride took her place in front of Ichigo she turned to the head-captain and nodded for him to proceed with the ceremony. The Head-Captain motioned for Ukitake who brought two silver sake cups. Yamamoto poured sake into the cups and passed them to both Ichigo and Unohana.

Following what his father and Byakuya instructed him to do; Ichigo brought the cup up to her lips. Unohana slowly drank from it, savoring the taste of the sake as it went down her throat. Once the cup was empty she raised hers and brought to Ichigo's lips. The boy did his best to drink the alcohol without coughing at the strong taste. Suddenly he realized it probably would've been a good thing to have taken Rangiku and Renji's offers to drink before. Nevertheless he managed to drink the liquid without making a fool out of himself in front of everyone. Once they had both drank the ceremonial sake they preceded with the next step.

"Now then, Ichigo, present your wife with your ring," commanded the Head-Captain. Ichigo did as instructed, revealing a beautiful diamond ring; the same ring that his father had given to Masaki all those years ago. Taking her hand in his he slid the ring, looking her into blue eyes and smiling. "Retsu Unohana, do you take me as your husband?"

She looked down at the ring and smiled, knowing the significance of it from what Isshin had told her the day before. "Yes Ichigo. Yes I do." She turned to her Lieutenant and nodded to her. Isane produced the wedding ring from her person and passed it to her. "Ichigo Kurosaki, do you take me as your wife?" she asked as she slid the ring onto his finger. Once she was done she threaded her fingers into his, bringing them closer together. Rangiku and the other women practically swooned at the sight before them.

Ichigo nodded and smiled at his bride, "Yes Retsu, I do take you as my wife."

Yamamoto smiled at the sight and decided to finish the long-awaited wedding, "Ichigo Kurosaki and Retsu Unohana. I hereby announce you as husband and wife. Ichigo," he said turning to the orange-haired groom, "You may now kiss the bride." Ichigo lowered her hood and leaned forward, his lips delicately landing on her soft red lips. 'This is even better than the dreams!' they both thought at the same time. She wrapped her arms around his head and pulled him closer, deepening the kiss.

This time many of the women watching did swoon, wishing that they were the ones gluing their lips to Ichigo's. Rangiku took the moment to snap a massive amount of pictures for later usage. Kenpachi looked on, inwardly grinning at the prospect years down the line. Maybe having the mother of all badasses would help improve Ichigo as a fighter. He grinned at the thought of how powerful their kids would be later on. 'Hah! I bet when she gets alone with him tonight….' Suddenly he felt a little bad for Ichigo; he hasn't quite realized yet what he's jumping into bed with!

Rukia meanwhile was feeling a little twinge of jealousy. Part of her had come to care for the boy who'd come all the way through hell and high-water to save her. Still she pushed aside those feelings and chose to feel happiness for the couple. She looked to Orihime, who looked like she couldn't feel any happier for Ichigo. She felt worried at first but it seemed, like her, she had gotten over her initial shock and envy of Ichigo tying the knot; especially when Ichigo explained how it was an arranged marriage.

The crowd cheered at the newlywed couple, giving them room as they walked down the hill together on the first day of their marriage. As they left for their reception Ichigo asked an obvious question, "So where are we going to stay the night? Byakuya told me he took care of the details but nothing else."

Unohana merely chuckled and squeezed his hand tenderly, "Oh that's right, it slipped my mind. Byakuya and Yoruichi set our honeymoon up at one of the Kuchiki hot springs for tomorrow." She whispered into Ichigo's ear as they reached the base, "I'm looking forward to getting time alone with you my husband…."

To Be Continued….