That rainy day


He couldn't remember how long it was since the last time he walked through those roads. It felt like an old favorite sweater he wore everyday he could, but that had to let go when it was too hole-y that it could fall apart any minute. He tried to repress the memories invading him. How long had it been since he let himself think of those two kids he left behind? The younger so wise beyond his age, his white hair an attribute to that same gift. The older, blonde and so silly, but at the same time so motherly to their new icy companion. Those two, at that time, were the closest he had to children. Now, that his own children were grown up and with children of their own old enough to understand his choice, he felt it was time to leave. Time to see those two again, face to face, and not behind his older persona mask. Time to have tea with his old friends. Time to walk through Seireitei at sunset. Time to find her and never let go.

He searched for her as soon as his feet touched Soul Society's ground. It took him three restless days until he found a wisp of her reiatsu and then, all it took him was a mad rush towards her. And now, here he was, in front of a small cabin in the woods, surprisingly enough, near the place Rangiku found Toshiro, all those years ago.

The black haired man sighed deeply, touching the wooden door with his fingertips.

And then, the door opened and he felt his fingers in contact with the soft of a woman's arm.

He looked at her sweet eyes, her soft smile and her luminous face, feeling his air being stolen from his lungs. She was here…

"Masaki…" he whispered, engulfing her smaller body within his arms. He felt her fists squeezing the back of his clothes and for some moments only the silence reigned over them… he touched her lips with his own, feeling like it was only yesterday that he bided her goodbye in that rainy day…

"Why did it take you so long to find me? Did you lost your way with the other female shinigamis?" Masaki asked when they finally parted and Isshin's booming laugh echoed from his chest.

"You know how bad I am at orientation… And besides, no other woman can have such power over my heart like you and our daughters do… well, without counting Orihime, of course…" he said, and smiled at his wife's curious stare. "You really don't know anything?" he asked, mesmerized. She was such a curious woman and now, to find out that she never tried to discover what happened to her family made him, in turn, really surprised.

"I didn't want to know…" she said, turning her back at him and walking inside the house. Isshin quickly followed her, sitting on one of the chairs. "I didn't want to know what I was missing… But even with that desire in mind, some things always ended up in here… Like how a group of humans were able of entering Soul Society and how one of them, a boy with orange hair fought with some captains and showed incredible strength… But I convinced myself that it couldn't be my son, since you wouldn't be so irresponsible to let a kid roam alone trough Seireitei!" Masaki replied, her hands on her hips.

However Isshin was not worried; he knew that expression, it was the same one she used when she was trying to chastise him for doing something while hiding her already forgiveness of his actions.

"You are forgetting the most important thing…" he said, his index finger raised in the air. And to Masaki's wondering expression he answered: "He is your son, and just like you, nothing can stop him when he gets stuck with some idea!" and the woman rolled her eyes, with her lips trembling with her repressed smile. "C'mon, it was not me that ran from an arranged wedding to marry with a supposedely death shinigami…" Isshin said and the woman's smile won over her face.

"And it was the best decision I've ever made…" she replied, remembering the first time she saw him, fallen on the floor with the rain soaking him.

They both smiled at each other, but then, her expression turned mischievous.

"And who is that Orihime?" she asked, remembering his previous words.

"Your daughter-in-law…" he laughed and he saw her eyes shine with the new information.

"Oh! Seriously? How is she? Is Ichigo happy with her? And how is her relationship with my girls?" Masaki asked and Isshin laughed again; it was the first time in a long long time that he laughed for the mere pleasure of that and not to putting up a mask for his family's sake.

"She is bubbly, a voracious eater, happy, intelligent, beautiful…" Isshin said and with a proud voice he ended "People always say that boys marry women like their mothers and they couldn't be righter in this case…" Isshin said. From the first time he laid eyes on the girl, it was like watching his wife coming back to life, it saddened him and made him hopeful at the same time; sad that he couldn't have his wife, but hopeful that maybe his son, if he wasn't a stupid moron would see how perfect that girl was for him.

Masaki smiled wistfully, imagining the said girl in her mind.

"She has auburn hair and really big…" and then he shut himself up, before his big mouth could put him into more trouble. Masaki looked at him, curious, but noticing where his eyes were glued she rolled her eyes.

"I even missed that perverted side of yours…" she confessed and Isshin smiled bashfully.

"And they have two beautiful kids, Katsuo and Hanako…" Isshin finished and Masaki sighed.

"He is well cared…" she whispered, remembering her last image of her son, as she fell over him, her life disappearing from her body.

"And do you believe Ishida's son became Ichigo's colleague? And that his grandson is currently dating our granddaughter? Not that Ichigo knows, obviously… He would have a heart attack…" Isshin said, imagining the scene in his mind.

Masaki kept watching him with a mesmerized expression. She left her face fall over her hand, while her husband kept telling her of her daughters' lives.

It was so hard, living all those years by herself. She kept herself from society on purpose, not wanting to raise any suspicions of her true identity; it was bad enough if someone found out Isshin left Soul Society for a woman, but for them to know that it was for a Quincy it would be a disaster.

However, keeping that distance was never as hard as when the rumors spread about the invaders. She felt it in her heart; she knew that her son was close and her heart tugged inside her chest for her to run to him. But she couldn't and she wouldn't. She wouldn't make her son miss her even more knowing where she was but not being able of staying with her, or worse, she wouldn't make him abandon his life in the world of the living to be with her.

And so, she let him go... once again…

And now, with her husband back, those feelings of regret that would always tug at her heart, whispering meaningless advices were quiet for once. She knew it wouldn't stay that way forever… In the end, only when her entire family reunited those feelings would be erased forever.

For now, all she could do was show how much she loves that idiotic man and how proud of him she is, for taking care of three small children when she had to leave them.

"Thank you…" she said, taking his hand and kissing his knuckles.

"What for?" he replied.

"For falling in that rainy day…"

Just like I did for you, forever…


I bet it was not me that immediately thought that Orihime and Masaki looked really alike, right? C'mon, from the figure to her personality, especially when we see her in the dark in her room, it made me remember when Orihime confessed her love for Ichigo to Rangiku. This last manga chapter really made my day!