Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.
Paring: Toshiro Hitsugaya X Karin Kurosaki.
Summary: This is a tale that had long forgotten. A secret tale that shall remain unfolded but today I shall tell you everything. It is a secret between us.
The Secret Love Story.
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Lets it be a secret
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This love story starts with….
A girl with blue-black hair ran out from her house, her eyes full of laughter as she ran from a white haired boy. "No, Toshiro you cheater! Don't come near me you… you cheater!" The girl shouted, laughing happily.
"No, you are the one who cheated. You ran out before I finish counting to ten!" the ten year old boy shouted back, his hand gripping the blue-black haired girl's kimono sleeve before he pulled her closer to him.
"I'm supposed to run before you finish counting,," she gasped, trying to catch her breath. She smiled widely as she inched closer to him. She like to be with him, she always did. "What if I could not find you?" The white haired boy asked the seven year old girl that stood in front of him.
For him, she is someone that could not be replaced. The idea of losing her terrified him. Her cheek flushed when she heard that, making her pale cheek look lovelier. Her smile took his breath away and he knew he already fallen in love with her.
"Don't worry Toshiro, you just call my name and I will come for you as fast as I can. You'll never lose me. Trust me!" the girl reassured the boy, patting his head.
"What if anything happened to you, Karin?" the boy asked her again, his eyes looking worried as he asked her that. Every breath and every time his heart beat will be meaningless without her with him.
"Nothing will happen to me Toshiro as long as you are with me," Karin answered him back, her voice sounding confident. She knew as well as she knew how to breathe that Toshiro would come for her no matter what. Everything going to be alright as long he was with her.
If only she knew how naïve she was…
Karin now a seventeen year old woman. 'Old enough to be someone else's wife,' she added to herself, smiling. Most of her friends had already married and some of them were waiting to be a mother but she was still waiting for the right man. Waiting for a man to be exact. A man that she loved with all her heart.
Yesterday she just turned down a proposal from a family friend. She knew her father was hoping for her to accept the proposal but… How could she accept it? Her heart already has its owner and she doubt that that owner will give her up like that.
"Karin-Chan! Toshiro is here and he wants to see you!" her sister, Yuzu, shouted from the front door. Karin immediately smiled when she heard her beloved's name. She quickly ran towards the front door, her smile widening with every step she took.
"Toshiro!" She shouted his name as she flung her hand to embrace him. God she missed him so much. She inhaled his scent, his comforting scent as she hugged him. She quickly pulled back, her dark blue eyes hard as she checked for any injuries. She hated the war, she always would. Because of war she had little time to see him. Because of war she could not help but to feel worried about his safety.
"Marry me, Karin," Toshiro asked quietly as he pulled her closer and wrapped his hand around her small waist. He already knew about the proposal and he was so close to losing her but thank god she did not accept.
Karin stared at the man in front of her, her eyes wide when she heard that. Her mouth twitched before it curved upwards and formed a smile. A beautiful smile that Toshiro would always adore. A smile that he would die to protect.
"I waited for that for three years, Toshiro," she said softly, returning his hug.
"So what is your answer, Karin?"
"Yes."
She is now one step closer to losing him…
"Just let me go with you, Toshiro! I can fight alongside you in the war!" The long blue-black haired woman shouted, her hand gripping the man's kimono. Her dark blue eyes were worried as she watched the man's face remain emotionless at her words. His turquoise eyes were full of regret with his decision that he had made long ago. He knew there was no other way or choice. He would do anything to protect this woman.
"I'm sorry Karin, but this has to be done. I will protect you no matter what. I promised you that I will come back to you, right?" he said softly; slowly taking her hand from his arm. He bent down and kissed the woman's cheek, wiping the tears that started trickle down her white cheek.
"Wait for me, Karin, and I will come back for you as soon as I can." He then bent down and captured her lips with his before he turned around and walked away from a women that he love since he was just five; the same women that he married and the same women that owned his heart. The only owner of his cold heart.
She could only watch him fading away from her view, her voice stuck in her throat unable to call for his name. With every step he took, little did she know that the kiss that they shared was their last. The next day a letter came telling her that her beloved now had left her alone.
The arrival of that doomed letter left that once strong woman sobbing in her bedroom. The only thing from him that will remind her of him is their son and daughter and his last words that will always play in her mind, haunting her till her last breath.
'I will come back for you as soon as I can….'
She lost her husband when she just twenty-three.
"Grandma tell me what happened to that woman?" A three year old boy nudged his grandmother, demanding for the rest of the story. It hurt her deeply when she looked at her grandson. He looked exactly like him. Her son and her grandson always reminded her of him.
Slowly she bended down and picked her grandson up. "She still alive, still waiting for him," she answered her grandson softly. "Did she marry another man?" the boy asked her again, wrapping his small hand around her neck. His grandmother is quite young compared to his friend's grandmother. She was just in her late fifty and she still had her blue-black hair.
"No."
"And I'm glad that she never married another man." A male voice broke in the silence. Karin's heart thumped loudly when she heard that voice. Slowly she put down her grandchild, who started running calling for his father to inform him about the visitor.
She turned around, praying that the turquoise eyed man in front of her is not one of her hallucinations. Tears started to trickle down her cheek. Slowly she walked to the man before she raised up her hand and touched the man's left cheek. The man leaned against her touch, closing his turquoise colored eyes wanting to savor the feeling of her touch.
Karin suddenly raised up her hand and before she even realize it she had just slapped that man. The man only smiled softly at her before he pulled her closer and embraced her. "I missed you Karin, even though I never expected a slap," he said gently before he loosened his hug.
Time had changed his look greatly. He looked different but still handsome nevertheless. Just seeing his turquoise colored eyes made her believe that the man in front of her was indeed the owner of her heart.
"Toshiro," she choked his name out between her sobs before she hugged him. He was now back, back to her even though he was thirty-four years late. "They said that you were already dead and I… I…" she stopped, unable to continue her words.
"How can I be dead if I promised my wife that I will come back?"
"How could you! I waited for you not for a year or two. I waited for you for thirty-four years! Yet you still dare to make some joke here!" she said angrily, wiping her cheek from any remaining tears before she smiled. Nothing mattered now, as long as he was with her.
"I will tell you the full story later, but for now could you make me a cup of your bitter tea?" Toshiro asked her, chuckling when he saw her face flushed. Slowly she smiled; muttering words that made him feel that he belonged there with her.
"Welcome back."
Toshiro smiled back at her before he answered her. "I'm home"
This shall remain as a secret love story told for generation after generation in the Hitsugaya family. A tale that will remain as a secret for outsiders.