My deepest apologies for having not update in awhile, I really feel terrible for doing that to all of you. Thank you all though for your kind comments, I hope you continue to enjoy this story.
Chapter 7: What We Never Knew
It was fate at work, keeping the boys in subtle contact with one another, their paths crossing even if they didn't realize it until later. The brushing of shoulders, the subtle glances across the way, the hesitant wave from the smaller to the taller once they spotted one another. Words were kept short, their lives becoming a busy fanfare, the shrine had several ceremonies that Toshiro Hitsugaya was required to practice for and of course attend, and as for Ichigo Kurosaki, his new occupation kept him far busier than he expected.
Fate kept working though, waving about that invisible wand and granting the boys another meeting.
It was on a day late in November, and Ichigo was now miffed by his next patient's appearance. He blinked his auburn hues quite a few times as he paused in his current task of lifting one of the pages from the clipboard he grasped in his opposite hand.
"...Granny… and Toshiro?" He murmured and Toshiro all but scoffed and looked away from the man whilst the old woman shuffled her feet forward.
"Ah Ichigo-kun it's wonderful to see you." She smiled, her aged eyes crinkling just a bit more. The doctor couldn't help but to return the smile with his own, touched by her kindness and the warmth her upcurved lips provided in that moment.
"It's good to see you too." He kneeled down to better meet her in the eyes. "I didn't know you came here for your appointments?" He briefly glanced to Toshiro in the background, the small male grumbling about his damned luck. Ichigo also took notice to just how tense the other's form was, and the doctor's smile faltered at such notice. It was obvious the shorter male was a bit uneasy in being here, some people took more time to warm up to an environment like this.
"Ah, my previous physician passed away… such a good man, he took care of me for a good while." The elderly woman explained, bowing her head.
"I'm sorry to hear that. Are you doing okay?" Ichigo directed his attention back to her though keeping an eye on Toshiro in his peripheral vision.
"Ah yes my boy. I'm just fine. I'm merely here for a check up." She broadened her aged smile at the graduate who slowly stood back up to his full height.
"Then this way, please." He looked to Toshiro once more, the boy had his teal hues averted to something else, almost completely in another world. "Toshiro?"
"Yes?" He snapped out of his trance and flickered his attention back to Granny and Kurosaki, finding them both to be looking his way.
"We're going to the room now." Ichigo gestured before leading them along.
Blood was taken, along with temperature and blood pressure. Then they waited for results which didn't take very long. Though, in the end, Ichigo wished the woman had never come.
He studied all of the results, every note he had scribbled while in the room with the woman, Toshiro had ended up leaving to stand outside of the facility, making up some excuse. Kurosaki skimmed over her old tests, from her previous doctor before then switching back to the ones taken today. He cringed and then sighed heavily. It was inevitable right? The end of a life span? He didn't want to go breaking this sort of news today.
Granny took it far better than he would have expected, actually she knew what was going on before he opened his mouth.
"Ichigo-kun, it's all a part of life." She nodded her head and looked off to a spot on the wall across from her. "You live as long as I have and you sometimes have to wonder when the end will come, because it almost seems too perfect." She breathed in and then out, relaxing her old bones in the chair she was placed in. "...Though I am more worried about-"
"Toshiro." Ichigo cut in, moving to sit in the chair across from her. "He's been with you for some time right?"
"Yes, that child… He doesn't know of family all too well, but once we met we were both attached. When I do come to pass, he'll surely take it hard."
Ichigo furrowed his brows and tilted his head before reaching a hand across the open space between them, he placed his large hand atop her little old ones and squeezed them gently. "It'll be okay… he has support. I can promise you that."
"Ah… Thank the Gods for that." She smiled once more at the younger, unaware of the tears that now stained her cheeks.
Hitsugaya was nagged by deep curiosity after the whole appointment was over, when the woman was lead out of the facility by Ichigo Kurosaki, he asked how things had went, and they said it all had went fine and that everything was normal. He knew what lies were, and he knew those two had just spoken a few to him. He, for now, went along with it, simply going about assisting his Granny in returning home to the shrine.
But the curiosity remained untamed as the hours trickled by. Toshiro Hitsugaya stared out across the courtyard, now overcasted by the night sky, his eyes landing on the beast of a statue placed before the building. He weighed in his mind on what he could do, he wanted the truth, Granny was surely hiding whatever it was for his sake… but could he get the up and coming doctor Kurosaki to talk?
He thought the scenario over and over again before finally giving in and rushing back to his quarters, feet thumping against the wooden floor boards. He slid the door open and made way for the small hamper in his quarters, digging through and locating his jeans from the outing, he dug into each pocket before pulling out the card he had been handed upon arrival. He scanned the business card over before finding the number he needed.
The boy flashed out of his room again, heading towards a new location, he didn't have a cell phone of his own, he never felt the need for one in the first place. So thus if he ever needed to call for anything he relied on the single phone in the entire place, it was so old he was surprised it still even functioned as well as it did.
Upon reaching the kitchen of all places did he take the phone off the receiver, his dexterous fingers entering in the number before he then awaited the dialing tone. He waited, and whilst in those few seconds of waiting did he suddenly begin to panic. What would he say? How could he go about getting the truth?
"Hello? This is Kurosaki Ichigo speaking-"
"... Ichigo."
"Toshiro?!"
The petite male held the phone away from his ear after hearing such a loud shout of his own name. "Yes.. It's me." He sighed and brought the phone back.
"Is everything okay?" There it was, the worried tone of the elder male.
"...I…" Toshiro was still trying to figure the words, trying to comprise not only his demeanor but his questions as well.
"It's about today… isn't it?"
Curse this damned doctor and his quick thinking! He was too good for his own sake, being able to read the little guardian even over the phone.
"...Tell me the truth, the results aren't good… are they?"
There was a sigh of grievance on the other end, then the sound of shuffling as Ichigo shifted the phone to his other ear, nestling it between his head and shoulder. "Toshiro… she's just… getting old. I don't really know how else to put it. She's gone on this long but now things are starting to deteriorate for her, it's just how life is…"
In turn to this Toshiro was deafening in his own silence, his breathing was incredibly quiet and for a moment or two Ichigo began to wonder if the line had been dropped.
"To-"
"What can I do?" The guardian's voice came out in a whisper, ever so pleading in it's own quiet way.
"There isn't much your or I can do Toshiro… it's just age, we can't stop something like tha-"
"Don't give me that!" His voice rose in an instant, the fury of the dragon suddenly coming to life. "Isn't there any medications she can take?! Any sort of procedure she can have done!? Can we change her diet?! Should we get other doctors involved?!"
"Toshiro! You need to calm down!" Ichigo did his best to try and plead with the boy to settle down but it was to no avail.
He heard the sniffling on the other end, the deep gasps from the poor emotional boy. "Isn't there anything… isn't she suffering? I don't want that for her… Ichigo please… there has to be something…" Toshiro tried to wipe the tears away but they continued to fall.
Ichigo could picture it now, how defeated the younger probably looked right now, how those teal hues of his were surely now bloodshot and reamed with a dark color of aqua, thick lashes now weighed with the onslaught of tears.
"... I'll try and see what I can find for her… But Toshiro you have to understand that in the end there will come a time she passes on… I know she means alot to you, she is your family after all. I can understand where you're coming from, how you want to save her from the end… I wish I could have done something more for my mother… but Toshiro you have to know, that even when she passes, you still have family, I'm sure Rangiku supports you, and you should know that I'll have your back, even if our friendship has only been going on for a short amount of time."
"... Just do what you can." Came the melancholic response.
"I promise I will… I'm sorry we even attempted to keep this from you Toshiro."
"It doesn't matter."
"Toshiro it does matter, because in the end I hurt you… I made you cry and for the love of God out of all things I didn't want to make you do-"
"I'm not crying." The boy argued softly before releasing a small hiccup.
"You are… even if not on the outside then surely on the inside."
"Shut up…"
"... While I have you on the phone, I wanted to see if you were up to spending the day with me some time soon? I'm off a few days next week so maybe…"
"I'm not sure…"
"I'd like to get your mind off things if I can."
"Why are you trying so hard?" Toshiro sighed, bowing his head.
"I want to stay in good relations with you." Ichigo smiled softly to himself. "How about next Thursday? I can pick you up at the shrine? Maybe we could go to a museum or see a movie, whatever you're up to." He offered politely.
"A museum… a museum is fine." Toshiro found himself responding without a second thought. "I… I need to go… it's late…"
"11 o'clock in the morning, next Thursday. I'll see you then okay?"
"Okay…"
"And Toshiro?"
"What is it?"
"Don't ever hesitate to call me, I'll always be here to listen."
And in knowing that, Toshiro felt the sudden wave of relief, like a burden had been ever so gently lifted from his heart.
