Welcome to Forever and Always!
This is my first attempt at a HitsuHina AU, so I hope this story turns out okay.
Please enjoy!
Chapter 1:
Hinamori Momo only had a few memories of her parents. Most of them were pretty foggy, but there was one that was clear as day. She remembered her mother's laughing face as her father tried desperately to fix whatever small mistake he had made. She remembered that it was a rather comical scene as her father fumbled around desperately in an attempt to fix whatever had happened while her mother merely stood off to the side laughing at her husband. Since that was her only real memory of her parents, she cherished it deeply.
She wished she had more memories of her parents, but she could only really recall that one. Yet, that was to be expected. After all, they had died in a car crash when she was just 5 years old.
The time shortly after her parents' passing was a real blur for her. It had all happened so fast. One moment she was playing with her neighbour as she waited for her parents to come home, and the next she was whisked away to attend their funeral. She faintly remembered adult's trying to comfort her at the time, but she couldn't remember exactly what they said or did.
However, she knew that she wasn't alone at the time. Her neighbours, the Hitsugaya's, had taken great care of her while the issue of custody was taking place. Since her father was an orphan and her mother had cut all ties with her family members, no one knew what would become of her.
In the end, the Hitsugaya family decided to take her in. Despite the fact that the elderly grandmother already had her hands full with raising her orphaned biological grandson, the elderly woman still welcomed Hinamori into her home with opened arms. When people would ask the elderly Hitsugaya why she decided to take the Hinamori child in, the grandmother would merely state that the poor girl was pretty much family anyway, so it just made sense that she should be the one to take her in.
Hinamori was forever grateful for the kindness the elder showed that day by taking her in. Just when it seemed like she had no one to turn to, the elderly Hitsugaya was there to welcome her with warm arms. Had it not been for her, who knows what would have become of the her child.
In any event, it was decided shortly after the death of her parents that Hinamori would be staying with the Hitsugaya. And that's where she had happily lived ever since. While nobody would ever be able to replace her real parents in her heart, Hinamori still deeply treasured the warmth and support she had gotten from the elderly woman over the last 15 years.
Hinamori also treasured the relationship she had developed with the elderly woman's grandson over the last 15 years as well. Her grandson, Hitsugaya Toshiro, had been Hinamori's closest friend for as long as she could remember. The two of them had always been close, even before Hinamori had moved in with him and his grandmother. And now, with all the years spent in each other's constant company, the two were practically inseparable.
Most people were surprised to see the two of them together, mainly because the two were such opposites. Toshiro, who had bright white hair and a cold demeanor, was the polar opposite of Momo, who had raven coloured hair and was extremely friendly and kind to others. Yet, the two complemented each other so well. They just managed to bring out the best and the worst in each other.
Hinamori couldn't help but smile as she recalled her journey that brought her to where she was today. As she was walking back home from her university class with her childhood friend, she was feeling nostalgic as she was remembering her childhood. Sure, she had been orphaned at five years old, but Hinamori still didn't consider her childhood to be a sad one. And she had Mrs. Hitsugaya and Toshiro to thank for that.
"Geez, Hinamori, would you quit spacing out?" Hitsugaya said as he looked questioningly at his childhood friend. "You're gonna walk into something if you don't pay attention to where you're going."
"Huh? Ack!" Hinamori exclaimed as she walked right into a lamp post. "Ouch… That hurt…" she muttered as she began to massage her forehead.
"Told you" Hitsugaya stated as he watched his friend massage her head in pain. "Come on, let me take a look at it" he began as he removed Hinamori's hand from her forehead so he could examine the wound. "You have a bit of a mark, but it should be gone by tomorrow."
"That's good to hear!" Hinamori happily replied as she began to make her way home once more. She then slowed down a bit in order to allow her childhood friend to catch up with her. That's when a certain realization hit her. Tomorrow, huh she thought as her expression became unreadable So it's that time of year again already.
Almost as though he knew exactly what was going through her mind, Hitsugaya interrupted her thoughts. "Since tomorrow's Saturday and I managed to get the day off work, I figured you, me, and Oba-san could go visit your parents tomorrow morning. That way, we'll be able to get there before the crowd comes and actually have some peace and quiet. Unlike last year..."
Hinamori simply nodded in response. Tomorrow would mark the fifteenth anniversary of her parent's death. It just so happened that tomorrow was also the anniversary of a plane crash, which made tomorrow a very popular day for people to be visiting the local cemetery. Last year, the three of them had been unlucky and had gotten caught up in the crowd of mourners there to say hello to their departed loved ones. This year, they were determined not to make the same mistake.
In any event, the two childhood friends made the rest of their way home in silence. While it wasn't necessarily an uncomfortable silence, Hitsugaya knew better than to talk to Hinamori while she was so consumed by the thought of her parents. Right now, he knew she just needed to be alone with her thoughts. That being said, if she ever did want to talk to him about it, he vowed that he would be there to listen.
Seeing Hinamori reflect so heavily on the death of her parents also made Hitsugaya think of his own. They had died shortly after he was born, so he didn't really remember them. In fact, he rarely ever thought of them. The only times he ever did was when he would see Hinamori silently mourning the death of her own beloved parents. While a part of him wished he had the same sentimental feeling that she had for his own parents, he just couldn't bring himself to feel that way for people he had never really known. As far as he was concerned, his only true parent was his grandmother. And for him, she was all he would ever need.
"Welcome home, you two" Mrs. Hitsugaya said as she greeted her grandson and Hinamori, who had just arrived at home. The two childhood friends were interrupted from their thoughts as they looked at their smiling grandmother. "Now, come inside. Dinner is ready."
"Alright!" Hinamori exclaimed as she happily followed her grandmother into the house. Hitsugaya merely shrugged in response before making his own way into their home.
The three of them happily ate their meals while engaging in light conservation. Well, to be more specific, Hinamori and Mrs. Hitsugaya happily ate their dinner and chatted while Hitsugaya quietly ate his supper and watched them.
"I'll take care of the dishes!" Hinamori exclaimed as she finished her supper and sat up. She then brought everyone's dishes to the kitchen before beginning to wash them.
While Hinamori was in the other room and out of earshot, Toshiro took advantage of the situation to ask his grandmother a question that kept bugging him every year around this time. "Oba-san, why did you never officially adopt Hinamori? I mean, she has been living here with us since she was five. So why not do it?"
Now, Toshiro asked his grandmother this question every year around the anniversary of Hinamori's parent's death. And every year, his grandmother would merely laugh his question off while refusing to give a concrete reply. So there was really no reason to think that this year would be any different. However, this year was different since his grandmother finally decided to give him an actual answer to his question.
"Oh, dear, I never officially adopted her so that you two could avoid any meddlesome legal barriers in the future" she answered as she gave her grandson a knowing smile.
"Huh?" he replied dumbfounded. After all these years, she had finally given him an answer. Unfortunately, he had absolutely no idea what she meant. "What do you mean? What kind of legal barriers?"
"Well," she began as her knowing smile turned into a grin. "I'm talking about the legal barrier of being related. Since you two were never considered as kin in the eyes of the law, there will be no legal barriers for the two of you when you both get married to each other in the future."
Toshiro spit out his drink as a deep shade of red began to dominate his face. "W-What are you talking about?!" he stammered as he tried to regain his breath after nearly choking on his drink.
His grandmother merely offered him another knowing smile in response, which indicated that he should know full well what she was talking about. Just as he was about to protest to his grandmother once again, Hinamori entered the room once more.
"What are you two talking about?" she asked with a questioning look on her face.
"N-Nothing" Toshiro abruptly replied as he sat up. "I'm going to grab a shower" he added before making his way out of the room.
"Hmm? Did I miss something?" Hinamori whispered as she watched her friend leave the room.
Hitsugaya laid awake in his bed, unable to sleep. He aimlessly rolled from side to side in an attempt to fall asleep, all to no avail. As much as he tried, just couldn't shake the bad feeling forming in his gut. He didn't know why, but he had a feeling something bad was going to happen soon.
"Hitsugaya-kun, are you awake?" a voice whispered, breaking him from his thoughts. Hitsugaya looked up to see Hinamori dressed in her pajamas as she stood in his doorway.
"Hmm? What is it, Hinamori?" he replied as he looked questioningly at his childhood friend. She appeared flushed as she nervously looked at him.
"Um, well…" she whispered as she lowered her gaze. She then began to twiddle her thumbs as she tried to find a way to tell him what she had come to his room for.
Seeing his childhood friend act so nervous, Hitsugaya was able to guess why she had come to his room so late. "Come, on. No point in just standing there." he stated as he motioned to the spot next to him on his bed with his hand.
"Huh? How did you.." Hinamori muttered as her eyes widened. Here she was, desperately trying to think of a way to ask him if she could sleep in his bed tonight, yet he had just outright blurted out for her to join him.
"Because I know you, Hinamori. And every time you can't sleep, you come here with the same dumb look on your face. So just come here already. You're letting all the cool air out of my room." Hitsugaya stated bluntly as he motioned once again for her to lie down in the spot next to him.
Hinamori shyly nodded in response as she walked towards him. She then carefully climbed into the bed. Once she was settled in, she suddenly curled up next to Hitsugaya, causing him to blush.
"Thank you, Shiro-chan…" she whispered as she felt herself falling asleep.
Hitsugaya gently smiled as he watched his childhood fall asleep beside him. "You're welcome… Bed-wetter." he said right before falling asleep himself.
The next morning, the three of them woke up fairly early and were on their way to the local cemetery by 8am. Since none of them were necessarily early risers, they basically got ready in an almost zombie-like state as they prepared everything they would need for their visit.
Only as they were making their way up the hill towards the graves, did Hinamori begin to wake up and process where exactly she was going. As every other year before, she felt mixed emotions as she walked up the hill. It was always sad for her to see her parents graves, which was a permanent reminder of what had happened to them all those years ago. Yet, it was still nice to see them, if only for the fact that she got to hear stories about them from Mrs. Hitsugaya whenever the three of them would visit.
Once they had reached the top of the hill, they noticed a man standing before the Hinamori grave stones. He was dressed in an elegant suit and appeared to be in his mid-forties. As they got closer to him, they noticed that he had an unreadable expression on his face as he stared intently at the grave in front of him.
"Um, excuse me," Hinamori said shyly, causing the man to turn and look her. "Did you know my parents, by any chance?"
The man's eyes widened as he looked at her. A million of emotions seemed to have crossed his face before he finally settled on one: delight.
"Momo-chan!" the man exclaimed as he rushed towards Hinamori and crushed her in a back breaking hug. "It's so good to finally see you!"
Hinamori, Toshiro, and Mrs. Hitsugaya stood frozen in shock as the unknown man embraced Hinamori. Toshiro, being the first one to recover from his shock, suddenly yanked the man away from Hinamori and glared at him. "Just who the hell are you!?" he angrily asked as he felt his blood begin to boil.
"Well, aren't you a polite one" the man said sarcastically as he looked down at Toshiro. He then brushed some imaginary dirt off his shoulder before answering the question. "For your information, my name Futari Ryotaro. And I'm Momo's uncle."