Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Bleach characters, only I am able to afford a copy of the manga.
Summary: On the day of the birth of Karin & Hitsugaya's child, news arrives that he's gone missing on a mission to Hueco Mundo when his zanpaktou and a letter are retrieved from Hueco Mundo. Karin though does not believe as such along with her family, but fights the rumours of Soul Society about Hitsugaya being considered a criminal and a traitor, and must face the fact that she would be raising their only child alone.
The Bridge Of Silence
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+Missing+
The voices drowned out the noises of whatever was running in her head, but the pain was nothing compared to anything at all. Kurosaki Karin breathed heavily as the nurses were telling her on doing so, but it was not helping the situation. Plus, she was amazed at how her family had managed to call forth some members of the 4th squad.
"I am giving birth to a child, not trying to calm my nerves!" She shrieked, screaming again as she pushed harder once again for the last time.
Giving birth was something that had been out of her mind--no her entire life. Sadly, that was not the case as she had screwed up only nine months previously. It had been a mistake at first, the thought of being pregnant was completely absurd and stupid, but slowly Karin understood that it wasn't time to regret it at all. Her screw up had happen and there was no turning back on it, even if she wanted to.
"Congratulations Kurosaki-san, it's a healthy baby boy." The shinigami held out the tiny baby. Her eyes stared at the baby, his white hair was visible just like his father's, and there was no doubt about the striking resemblance. "His reiatsu is at good levels, so you shouldn't concern yourself over that."
"Thank you." Karin's eyes held tears, slowly she embraced her newly born child in her arms and smiled.
It had been a hard nine months, dealing with a lot of drama and constant whispers amongst the neighbourhood and other random people. Karin hated it though, it wasn't like it was anyone's business on intruding on her private life because it wasn't like she could actually reveal the fact that her family was actually shinigamis like herself, or talk about Soul Society. The overall idea would only end up being consider a joke, but it was nothing to joke about at all at the moment.
"How are you?" Ichigo, her older brother asked as he took his seat.
"I feel like hell." Karin sighed, still unable to get into the idea that she was a mother. "I'm sorry." Suddenly she began to cry.
Ichigo rushed to her side and hugged her tightly, trying hard to understand the reason why she was so upset, even if he knew the real reason but didn't want to voice it out.
"Its alright Karin…its alright." Ichigo hadn't known what to say after being told that her young sister was pregnant, but he didn't get angry. She was strong and would get through it, even if she wouldn't be able to see him.
"I miss him Ichi-nii." Karin cried, holding onto her brother close.
It had been many years since the last time she cried, it had been a promise made in order to not allow weakness to overrule her heart all, but at the moment it no longer mattered. A human needed to feel emotions in order to be called a human, and because they were also part of living.
Only a little after being told she was pregnant, her fiancé had been called back to Soul Society during their visit, but hadn't returned for over the time span. Karin was alone, even if she had her father, young sister, and Ichigo along with his wife Rukia. No, she had been in need of Hitsugaya Toshiro to be there for her, and now he needed to be there for his son.
"Karin, he'll be back." Ichigo tried hard to comfort her, but it was impossible because just earlier he had gotten the message that Toshiro had gone missing.
"I want him here." Her voice was muffled as her face was buried on his shoulder. "I want him to return here to see his son."
Soul Society, even after the war against Aizen, had gone into some drastic change and was a little bit complicated sometimes to deal with. Ichigo had been made a captain, though it had taken nearly five years to get done with the deal, but he was now leading the 9th division. Now it had been about ten years since that critical time, except that now things were going a little bit more into the complicated style for Soul Society. Suddenly wars had broken out in Hueco Mundo, and Soul Society sent aid for Nell, who had refused to go to Soul Society and stayed to watch out in Hueco Mundo.
Hitsugaya Toshiro, captain of the 10th division had been sent to Hueco Mundo for a mission before even knowing that he was going to be a father. Ichigo felt hurt by seeing his young sister suffer, after promising to not see her in pain, but now he sat there more disappointed on himself then ever before. You better come back Toshiro, or else if I don't find you dead I'll kill you myself.
Karin was subdued to a sleep in order to allow her to get her energies back, it had been a little complicated to deliver the baby, and plus the stress wasn't doing too well for her body.
Ichigo watched her sleep soundly, but she looked troubled still with the scowl on her face. He felt a hand on his shoulder, he turned to see his father.
"What's up?" The orange head asked, while closing the door.
"Its no good Ichigo, Urahara says that they have found his zanpaktou only." Isshin held a grim expression about him. "He's been gone for almost ten months now, and its most likely that he would be declared dead a while later. I'm sorry."
The usual goofy father held a very saddened expression, not only because he felt extremely sad about his daughter, but at the fact that his new grandson would not have a father at all.
"So, they didn't found a trace?" Ichigo tried his best to think of possibilities of Toshiro being alive somewhere.
"No, Youirichi went there herself along with Byakuya, but they didn't find anything." Isshin informed, pulling out a paper from his pants. "They also found this letter."
Ichigo's eyes widened, the paper was stained with blood.
Karin,
I am sorry to disappoint you on leaving like that, not even did I imagined to have detected that, but I found out only today. Unohana-taicho informed me about the fact that you were with child, I really didn't know what to think at first. You probably are scared to death right now, mainly due to the fact that you are the one who is carrying it and not me. That's not the point here, the point is that I am rather disappointed with myself because I won't be there for you because of this mission, but I am stuck between a conflict. Again, I wished I could kiss you and tell you how happy it makes me, and to know that soon you'll have our child. There's so much I want to say except that I am unable to say it properly, there's not enough words to express the joy that is buried in my heart at the moment. I love you Kurosaki Karin, no matter what. Maybe this mission won't take long, so until then take care of yourself and our child.
Love always,
Hitsugaya Toshiro
"He knew?" Ichigo couldn't believe it.
"Yeah, he knew after I informed Unohana-taicho about it." His father sat on a chair and ran a hand through his hair. "I shouldn't have let him go like that."
"What do you mean?" The orange head was confused by what his father was saying.
Isshin buried his face on his hands to clear his mind, it was nearly impossible to explain the fact that he was given his old post back as a captain. It was harder then ever imagined now, before it had been easy, but with the Aizen problem everything became complicated.
"I told Yama-jii to send me instead of Hitsugaya," He began. "I knew about Karin's pregnancy the night he left, but I just didn't know what to do at the moment. You know how Yama-jii is about the whole thing, so I volunteer myself but he declined. The old guy said I needed to stay to stabilized the 3rd division, but I just wasn't strong enough to stand up. I failed my own daughter."
"You didn't fail her otosan." Yuzu, Karin's twin appeared. "No one did, don't blame yourself."
Yuzu had become a beautiful young woman, one who willingly became a shinigami and was sent to Soul Society. Everyone thought of her as being a weakly at first, but everyone after finding out that she was actually a Kurosaki, suddenly their opinions changed because she had joined the elite 13th division and was along the ranks of a vice-captain.
"Yuzu, my greatest daughter! So loving--" Isshin was caught off by a punch from Ichigo.
Isshin had a very eccentric personality, and he was quick on changing character depending on the mood of something; which was actually annoying to Ichigo in the first place.
"Mou, Ichi-nii!" Yuzu expressed, taking a seat besides her father and looking at the closed door. "How is she?"
"She'll make it, but she's hurting in a deeper level." Ichigo informed, while his father was unable as he was trying hard to stop the bleeding of his nose.
"I heard about it from Ukitake-taicho, not good news as everyone expected." The golden haired young woman said, wrapping her arms around herself. "Rangiku-chan has been on the 4th division since she was found, and she's been crying herself out."
The entire Gotei 13 knew about the relationship, Matsumoto Rangiku treated her captain like a younger brother despite of the fact that she often didn't obey him much, but she respected him well for his accomplishments. She had been the first to find out about Karin's pregnancy, the first to squeal over it in the entire 10th division quarters, but she was the first one to really see how happy the young captain had been that day.
"How's Karin?" Rukia arrived at last, followed by her oldest son Kazuki and younger daughter Amaya.
"The delivery was a bit complicated, but I think she'll be alright." The orange head answered, as he hugged his children dearly. "Things don't look too well Rukia, so we'll return to Soul Society tomorrow."
The dark haired shinigami stared at her husband, the expression on his face looked like the same when he had heard about his missing friend many years ago. He looked completely defeated, even if it hadn't been his problem. Rukia sighed and hugged her husband, trying hard to understand why everything was going into the wrong direction.
"Otosan, will she be okay?" Amaya asked, while staring at her sleeping aunt from the small window of the door.
"Yes, only her heart is the only thing that will take a little longer to heal completely." Ichigo answered, trying hard not to think about Karin's pain.
"You believe in her so much?" Kazuki looked over at his father and smiled.
"Of course, she's my sister after all." His father ruffled his orange locks and wrapped his arm around his son. "And, she's stronger then you'll ever know.
The Kurosaki family sat there, completely lost in confusion about the current situation, while most of those closer to them back in Soul Society were also aware of the situation. No one wanted to think about one of their most elite shinigamis being dead, but also thinking about the fact that he was never allowed to lead a peaceful life at all.
All shinigamis believed that Hitsugaya Toshiro had earned the right to live freely, without having to care much about wars or anything, but simply putting his mind on his fiancée and start a family. The problem though was there was never a time to really heal, understand, and dealing with everything that had taken place; which it only made it more complicated to comprehend fully.
"Toshiro." Karin whispered as she stared out the moonlight of her room. "I will not be weak and I'll wait for you." Her resolve was made, and she was going to demonstrate that she was not weak or in need of protection from others.
It was too much of very complicated situation, but there was now a new child to take care of and worry about giving him a full life. Karin had to be strong now for her son, her heart would never forget it, but it was better to not be so sadden because there was no proof that he was dead or anything; only a small bit of hope was alive in her heart.
Closing her eyes, she fell asleep hoping for him to return soon.
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My first ever Hitsugaya/Karin fic. There had been many ideas thrown out, but neither really managed to make it. Like it? Review. Hate it? Well that's alright. Don't flame it though. I'll try my hardest to stay in character with all of them. This story is in progress, so it will not be updated daily or anything; even if I tried. More pairings will be revealed as the story progresses. The name for the child will be revealed on the next chapter, I hope.
Also, I did not feel like making Yuzu appear as a weak girl who needed rescue all the time, and she is not a vice-captain at all. Karin is not weak either, I have other plans for her in Soul Society. I feel like Yuzu and Karin are both strong on their own ways, as everyone says, 'looks can be deceiving'.
The names of the children that Ichigo and Rukia have; according to the websites I searched are as followed:
Amaya- Night Rain
Kazuki- First of a generation, pleasant peace, or shinning one.