*Extra-long Special Wedding Edition!*
Chapter Nine: Home
Karin stared at the unfamiliar woman in the mirror. Was that really her? She tried raising her arms, wiggling her fingers, and the reflection did the same. Yep, it was her. Sort of.
The Kuchiki elders had worked on her all morning. First they'd painted her from head to toe with pastes and powders and inks and creams, until her skin glowed an ethereal white, her cheeks a rosy pink, her lips a bright red, her eyes framed with thick black liner and mascara. Then they'd pulled her hair back from her face and piled it high on her head, in loops and twirls adorned with something vaguely horn-like. Finally they'd wrapped her in a shiromuku uchikake, the most beautiful, intricately embroidered white kimono she'd ever seen, made specially for her. The vision in the mirror was a lady. Delicate, dainty, more doll than human, the vision in the mirror was a bride.
Karin was a bride. She tried to superimpose her self-image on the person in the mirror. Where were the tee shirt and shorts, the dirty, bleeding knees, the scuffed elbows and split ends and suntanned skin? Were they hidden? Or were they completely gone.
Kuchiki Chiyo's face appeared in the mirror, and Karin felt a weight on her shoulders as the elder's hands landed on the shoulders of the bride in the mirror.
"Oh, you look so beautiful!" her teacher gushed. "I know I was hard on you child, but I just wanted you to be the best you could be! And look at you now, doing your family proud. You, Kurosaki Karin, are truly a lady."
"Thank you, Kuchiki-sama," Karin replied. She heard the elder leave, mumbling something about accessories, but she didn't look away from her reflection. The bride in the mirror wasn't smiling. Were brides supposed to smile?
She didn't know much about brides or weddings or marriage, to tell the truth. When other girls her age were putting on makeup or mooning over boys or looking at wedding gowns or imagining their perfect day, she was out in a dusty field practicing for the big soccer game. Boys were her friends, not something to be obtained or shown off as prizes. And babies just made her want to back away slowly. So needless to say, she'd never really imagined her wedding day.
But if she had, it wouldn't have been like this. She wouldn't have been alone in a room, being made over by women she'd hardly even met, led by one she definitely didn't like. Instead, Yuzu would have been there, begging to do Karin's hair and paint her nails. Karin would have let her, just this once, and might have actually enjoyed getting pampered while her father pounded on the door, in turn demanding to be let in the room and crying to her mother that his baby was leaving him. Ichi-nii would have kept him out, ever the constant guardian, calling him Goat Face and telling him to grow up while he yelled in to Karin that she'd better hurry up before her groom changed his mind. There would have been laughter and teasing and excitement, and most of all, noise. Except for the year or so after her mom had died, the Kurosaki household had never been silent.
Not like the tomb she was in now. Karin sighed, turning away from the reflection of Someone Else and glancing toward the window. She felt so alone. Never had she needed a connection to nature like she did now. She'd just started to calculate how much trouble she would be in if she snuck out to the garden when the door opened again. She whirled guiltily, then smiled when she saw who it was.
"Rukia!"
"Karin, you look amazing!" the older girl squealed, circling her to get the full effect. They didn't hug, and Karin was glad; she was convinced anything she touched would turn white. "Hitsugaya-taichou is going to fall on the floor!"
Karin gave her a weak smile. Somehow she'd managed to forget about the groom in all of this.
"By the way," Rukia continued, drawing out the words, "when I was out walking earlier, I ran into someone trying to sneak into the manor."
"What?"
Rukia pulled a package from behind her back. "Surprise! Matsumoto was trying to bring it to you. I think it's from him!"
Karin looked at the gift. "What could it be?" What would Hitsugaya-taichou be sending her? She hadn't heard from him since he'd left her in that cell all those weeks ago.
"How should I know? Open it!" Rukia demanded, bouncing on her heels like a little girl.
Karin laughed and followed orders. She pulled off the ribbon and opened the box to find a fan, a smaller box, and a note. She picked up the fan, turning it this way and that. It was old, but well cared for. Why had he sent it to her?
Rukia reached into the box and pulled out the note. "Dear Karin," she read. "We weren't given a chance to exchange engagement gifts, but I wanted you to have these for the wedding. The fan is a gift from my grandmother, the one she wore it in her own wedding. She is too weak to attend the ceremony, but she sends her best and hopes to meet you soon."
Karin stroked the fan. "Wow. That's really nice of her."
Rukia smiled, helping her tuck it into the back of her obi. "She's welcoming you to the family!"
That's right, she was joining a new family. She was going to be a Hitsugaya now, and Toushirou's family would be hers.
"I wonder what's in the other box," she said.
"Hold on, there's more," Rukia replied, digging the note back out. "The other gift speaks for itself. Sincerely, Hitsugaya Toushirou. Hmm, I wonder what that means."
Karin didn't reply, because she was trying to keep from crying and ruining her makeup and being forced to sit torturously still for hours while the elders redid it. Because she'd already opened the box, and found a pair of three-stone dangly diamond earrings.
"Earrings?"
"They are—were—my mother's," Karin choked out, lifting them out of the box. "How did he get them?"
Rukia's eyes flashed to hers. "Ichigo," she said.
"Ichi-nii," Karin whispered at the same time. "Toushirou must have brought them back from the living world." She closed her fist around the jewelry, blinking back the tears. It meant her family knew about the wedding, and they were okay with it. They were giving her their blessing. "Something from his family, something from mine."
"It's very poetic."
It was thoughtful, that's what it was. She put them on, smiling as she shook her head and felt them jiggle. It wasn't as good as having her family around her, but it was something.
"Perfect," Rukia declared.
A cold baritone interrupted them. "Not quite."
They both jumped as Byakuya strolled into the room, cutting a striking figure in his formal wear. "Nii-sama!" Rukia squeaked.
"The Kuchiki clan has its own gifts to present."
Karin shook her head. "But you've already done so much! I couldn't—"
His gaze leveled on hers. "Nonsense. We take care of our own." He pulled out a golden comb adorned with diamonds and rubies and slid it into her hair. "Hisana wore this at our wedding." He glanced at Rukia. "There is another, that I will give to you on your wedding day. But she would have wanted Karin to wear this one."
Rukia nodded, tears shining in her eyes.
He stepped back into the hallway and came back with a garment draped over his arm. He held it up, and she saw that it was an over kimono made of a beautiful red and gold brocade, embroidered with countless birds, flowers, and other symbols of luck and fertility.
"It's beautiful," she sighed, staring at it. It definitely rivaled the white one she was already wearing, which she hadn't thought to be possible. "But—"
"This garment has been worn by every Kuchiki bride on her wedding day for generations. You will change into it for the reception."
Karin gaped at him. "But I'm not a Kuchiki!"
"You are today!" Rukia replied, grinning.
A Kurosaki, a Kuchiki, and a Hitsugaya. A moment ago she'd been family-less, and now she belonged to three.
Maybe she wasn't so alone after all.
Toushirou glared at his fukutaichou, waiting for her to leave the room so he could change.
"But Taichou, I want to help!" she whined, holding up his hakama. "I'm your fukutaichou, so it's like my job!"
He snatched the pants away. "Go help Karin, then. I'm not getting dressed with you in the room!"
She crossed her arms and huffed. "I tried! They wouldn't even let me into the manor. Like I'm a thief or something! But that's okay, because I can still help you, Taichou!"
"No." He paused, then said, "you were able to deliver the gift?"
She nodded, turning serious. "I gave it to Rukia, who promised to give it to her. I would have delivered it myself but, like I said, they wouldn't let me in."
Toushirou wished he'd never let her in. "Good. Now leave, Matsumoto. If you go now, I won't kick you out of the wedding."
"But Taichoooouuu—"
"MATSUMOTO!"
She grumbled, but she left. He smirked at her antics as he dressed himself in the traditional wedding garb. His life was never boring, and adding Karin to the mix could only make it more complicated. But, although he'd never admit it, he liked it that way. Sometimes he thought Matsumoto and Momo were the only things keeping him from turning into Byakuya. People had always found him cold and a little off-putting. And while he wanted to be seen as serious, hard-working, and capable, he didn't want to turn into a statue. Matsumoto and Momo kept him human, and he was confident Karin would do the same.
An hour later, as he stood in front of the shrine watching his bride walk toward him, he wasn't so sure. Was that even Karin? The creature walking toward him was silent, her eyes downcast. She looked like a figurine—she could be anyone. She was so shrouded in fabric the only part of her he could see was a tiny triangle of her face peeking out from under her moon-shaped veil. And that face was painted up like a doll's, such that he couldn't even make out her features.
"Karin?" he whispered, glancing up at her out of the corner of his eye as she came to stand next to him.
She looked at him for the first time and her eyes went wide as they took in his outfit. "Y-yes?"
He snorted. "Just checking." He was about to say more, to ask if she was all right and ready to go through with this, but then the ceremony was starting and there was no more time for speaking.
As they turned toward the altar to begin, he heard Matsumoto giggle and Ukitake shush her. "But they're so white!" she hissed, laughing again.
Toushirou snorted too, picturing how they must look, him with his white hair and her with her white . . . everything else. If they got stuck in a blizzard, no one would ever find them.
They performed the traditional three times three drinking of sake, and then the ritual was mirrored by their families—or at least the people standing in for their families—Matsumoto and Ukitake on his side, Byakuya and Byakuya's aunt, he thought her name might be Chiyo, on Karin's side. Toushirou had a momentary thought that Kurosaki Ichigo would go postal if he heard about Karin being made an honorary Kuchiki, and decided to be sure and tell him the next time they met.
And then the ceremony was over, and they were walking away hand-in-hand to the sound of applause. He started to speak to his bride—no, his wife—but she was quickly swept away by the Kuchiki elder, presumably to change, and he watched her go before Ukitake and Matsumoto tackled him and dragged him off to the reception location.
They met again an hour later, on the grounds of Kuchiki manor where the reception was being held. Even Toushirou could admit it was beautiful with all of the cherry trees in bloom, and he smiled slightly as Rukia tucked a flower in Karin's now-uncovered hair. A light breeze sent the scent of cherry blossoms their way, and contentment stole through him.
He could see her face now, without the veil, but he still couldn't be sure it was her. He wouldn't be sure until a) she took the makeup off, which wouldn't happen until all was said and done and they'd retreated to his—now their—home for the night, or b) she got into an argument with him. Since he didn't want to wait to ensure he'd married the right person, he was voting for option b. Unfortunately, he couldn't seem to get close enough to speak more than a word before they were interrupted.
It seemed all of the Seireitei had turned out for the occasion, after all, it wasn't often that anyone got married, let alone a taichou. So he spent most of the time introducing his bride to the various officers in the Gotei 13 and listening to them greet her with thinly veiled hostility (from Soi Fon), full-on innuendo (from Kyouraku), and everything in between. Karin, for her part, seemed to take everything in stride, reacting graciously and most of all, quietly, to the various greetings. He was almost positive it wasn't really her.
They slipped away from Kurotsuchi (finally!), and Toushirou took Karin's arm and led her to a bench set under the trees. He'd just opened his mouth to confront her when Yamamoto approached them. Toushirou sighed. Had it been anyone else, he just would have glared and demanded that they leave them alone, but it had to be the one person he couldn't do that to.
"Soutaichou," he greeted, bowing slightly, "may I present Kurosaki Karin, my bride."
"Kurosaki Karin," the old man rumbled, "it is a pleasure to meet you. I do hope marriage will settle you down and we won't see many more escapades like last month's?"
"Not many," she replied with a placid smile. Toushirou almost lost control of his expression. There was the snark he was looking for. Maybe it was her after all.
When the Soutaichou finally left, Unohana and her lieutenant were making their way over, and he wondered if he'd ever have a chance to speak with his wife.
Well, besides the rest of his life.
At the end of the day, Karin reflected on how odd it was that the wedding had passed in an instant, but the reception had dragged on—mostly because Karin spent the whole time being introduced to important person after important person who she wouldn't recognize or remember the next time she saw them. Normally she'd be screwed because each of them, having only to meet one person, would remember her. However, there was no way they would recognize her without all of that gunk on her face, so for once she was in luck. But that only made the introductions that much more redundant.
She had noticed over the course of the day that Toushirou was growing frustrated, too. She wasn't sure why, unless it was that he was getting tired and ready to move on with the rest of the evening. She certainly didn't share his sense of urgency.
Apparently, only fools like Karin thought the wedding rituals ended with the reception. (Un)fortunately, the Kuchiki elders had quickly set her straight. That morning, after Byakuya and Rukia had left her to finish dressing, and before the ceremony, her mentor had returned for one last lesson. The traditional wedding day lesson.
Consummation.
They almost hadn't been able to get Karin down the aisle after that.
And that was why, because the elders had worried (and rightly so) that she would not lie still and submit, the elders had reverted to the old custom of "swaddling," and Karin was now lying on her husband's bed, arms pinned to her sides, wrapped from head to toe in heavy cloth. She couldn't move, she could barely breathe, and she couldn't yell for help because she'd been gagged.
It was strange how one's mind worked in such a situation. She was lying there, helpless, on his bed, and any moment he was going to come in and have his wicked way with her, whatever that might entail—okay, so she understood the mechanics, but she couldn't quite imagine Toushirou doing that—and all she could think about was how much her nose itched. And how, no matter how much she tried, she couldn't find a way to scratch it.
And then, miraculously, the itch disappeared when she heard light footsteps and the slamming of the door.
"Karin?" her husband—her husband—called as he entered the bedroom. He didn't look toward the bed, but walked straight to the closet and began to take off his jacket. He had his hands on the ties to his hakama when she decided she'd better do something. She tried yelling, but the sound was so muffled even she could barely hear it. So she thrashed, throwing her body from side to side, and eventually making the bed creak.
He whirled around, one hand on a sword he had pulled out of nowhere, and spotted her lying there.
"Karin?" he asked, sheathing the sword and walking toward her. He pulled back the top layer of material that had been obscuring most of her face. "What happened to you? Were you robbed?"
He kept unwrapping, and she started screaming "Stop!" through her gag. It came out more like "Mmmpfh!" but it drew his attention anyway. He pulled the gag out of her mouth and she swallowed a few times, trying to get the taste of the material out of her mouth. "Stop!" she repeated, as he rolled her across the bed, continuing to unwrap the material.
"Why? Who did this to you?"
She blushed, wishing for once he would just listen without the need for an explanation. "The elders. And because I'm not wearing anything underneath!"
"Oh!" he shot back like he'd been struck by lightning. "Why?"
"Because they thought I might not lay still and be submissive enough."
He snorted. "So they thought they'd tie you to the bed posts?
"Something like that."
"But wouldn't I have to untie you anyway, and then you could still do those things?"
"I didn't say it was a good plan."
He smiled at her. She gaped, having never seen him smile before. It lit up his whole face, giving him an almost boyish appearance, and she felt something tighten in her belly as she stared up into striking blue-green eyes, one partially obscured by a stubborn lock of silky white hair. Oh, her school-girl crush was definitely still alive and well!
"What?" she demanded, self-conscious.
"It is you."
"Huh?"
"I can tell now, without the makeup. I wasn't sure before."
She smiled at that, too, in spite of herself. "Neither was I. But it's me."
"Good." He walked back to the closet and came back with a yukata, which he set down next to her. "Um, can you get the rest of this off on your own?" he asked, pulling at her wrapping.
Her face was on fire. She shimmied back and forth, trying to see how loose it was, but the material was long and they'd really wrapped her up in it. She still couldn't move her arms. "I don't think so," she whispered.
He nodded. "I didn't think so either. Tell me when to stop," he said, then he turned his face away and started unwrapping her again. When he was down to the last layer, she stopped him, and he turned his back so she could cover herself in the yukata.
"Um, Hitsugaya-taichou?" she said hesitantly as she tied garment, "Th-thank you for the pajamas, but Kuchiki-sama was trying to explain consummation to me, and I think that not wearing anything is kind of the whole point of, uh, that."
At the word "consummation," his eyes went wide. Then he smirked. "Ah, is that why you've been acting so weird all day? Don't worry, Kurosaki—"
"I think it's Hitsugaya, now," she interrupted in a whisper.
He choked back a laugh. "I guess it is. Well, if I call you Hitsugaya, I'll feel like I'm talking to myself—I'm the only Hitsugaya I've ever known. How about I call you Karin, instead?"
"Okay."
"Good. As I was saying, don't worry, Karin, because we're not consummating anything."
He didn't want to consummate? But marriages were always consummated! Chiyo had said so.
"But—" she snapped her mouth shut. This was a good thing. It was wise not to argue about good things, at least that's what Yuzu always used to say. But she couldn't help but wonder why he didn't want her. Was she not pretty enough? His subordinate was plenty pretty, and very womanly, very unlike Karin. Did he like women like that? Should she try to be more like that, to please him? She completely forgot to listen until she noticed an odd silence. She looked down to see her husband wearing an expectant look.
"Well?" he prompted.
She smiled nervously. "Um, I wasn't listening?"
"Obviously," he said, rolling his eyes. "I was just explaining that I realize, even if the Soutaichou doesn't, that you're only seventeen, and that that age means something much different in the Living World today than it used to. Besides, this is a marriage of convenience. This is all to say that you needn't worry about inappropriate advances on my behalf."
"Huh?"
He sighed. She felt bad immediately, because her not understanding was inconveniencing him, and already she was breaking her vow never to be a burden.
He sat down on the bed and patted the spot next to him, indicating that she should join him. She did, and he took her hand in his. It marked the first time he had touched her since they had become husband and wife, and she couldn't help the butterflies. "Look, Karin, we didn't have much choice about getting married, and we never really got to talk about it. Are you okay with this?"
She looked down as she lied. "Of course, Hitsugaya-taichou. I am honored to be your wife."
"If you say so," he muttered with narrowed eyes. "Anyway, you're young to get married, and I'm old for you, but appear young for you, and there's nothing romantic between us anyway. So the fact that we're married doesn't really change anything. Do you see?"
No. "Yes, yes, I understand now. Thank you for explaining," she mumbled.
"No, you don't," he snapped, eyes flashing. "Don't lie to me." He sighed again, and when he spoke this time, his voice was softer. "We've both had a long day. I think it's better if we talk about this in the morning. For now, suffice it to say that I have no intention of touching you like that, now or ever."
He walked over to the closet and, pulling out a futon, began to set it up on the floor a few feet from the bed. Karin walked over to help. Inwardly, she cringed, not looking forward to a lifetime of sleeping on the floor. In fact, the part of her that hadn't been terrified of consummation had been downright excited about sleeping in a bed again after the horrors of Kuchiki Manor. A nice soft bed where no one came in to bang a gong and wake her up once an hour—sleep deprivation really was the cruelest form of punishment.
They finished setting up the spare futon, and she waited patiently (at least on the outside) for him to move so she could lie down.
He furrowed his brow at her. "The bed is yours, Karin. I'll sleep here," he said after a few moments of staring at each other.
She shook her head before she even thought about it. Oh, no, he wouldn't! That would break every vow she'd made to herself about helping him and not being a burden. There was no way she could kick him out of his own bed! "That is not necessary," she began, trying to speak formally so he'd listen to her and take her seriously. "It would not do for a wife to deprive her husband of his bed. I will be quite comfortable on the futon."
"No man makes his bride sleep on a futon! Take the bed!" he shot back.
"But you have an important job and have to be well-rested in the morning!" she argued, her voice rising as she leaned closer to him unconsciously.
"And you need the rest more—you look like you haven't slept in weeks!" he yelled, getting in her face as well.
"Are you calling me ugly?" she shouted, jumping to her feet.
He paused. "N-no," he said carefully, quietly, as he stood up as well. "Of course not. I just don't think it's right to leave my bride with the less comfortable sleeping arrangement."
She sighed. "Well, what are we going to do? I can't let you sleep on the futon, and you won't let me."
"You could just stop arguing and sleep on the bed," he muttered.
"Yeah, yeah," she mumbled, rolling her eyes at his last comment. She had a solution, but should she offer it? What would he think of her then? Finally, she suggested, "Why don't we both sleep on the bed? Then neither of us are putting the other out, and it seems big enough."
For a second he looked like he was going to refuse, but then he nodded. "Fine. It will work for now, until I can get us moved to larger quarters and commandeer another bed. But," he narrowed his eyes, "you stay on your side, I'll stay on mine."
She agreed. But then, no matter what they did, they both rolled to the middle. In the end, she was too tired to care, and his body emitted a pleasant coolness, like a nice breeze, so she didn't even get too hot.
As she drifted off to sleep and felt his presence behind her, all she could think was . . .
I could get used to this.
A/N:
Updated 5/8/11 to give a more clear sense of the timing of events. No substantive changes made. Next chapter should be up in a day or two!
Thanks for reading, and please review!
