Chapter 11: The Past, Present, and Future

When he got back to the shinigami's house and found out that his vice-captain, and the 11th squad guys were all there, Toushiro had the sudden urge to leave. It was total chaos back there. Rukia, Shin and Ayame were desperately calming the overly excited 11th squad officers. They were all planning some kind of party for Matsumoto, a baby shower, and the party was tonight. In all honesty, Toushiro never really liked parties, because whenever he was in one, it would always end with him, dragging a drunk Matsumoto back to the 10th squad. But he had to go… Matsumoto had become an important part of his life. She may not be a very dependable vice-captain, since she was always slacking off, but Matsumoto was one of his very few, and trusted friends. He would never admit it to anyone else but, she was like the older sister he never had. Toushiro had been in really tight situations before, so going to a party with the other shinigami (again) and seeing them get drunk and act idiotic, doesn't seem that bad to him anymore. On the contrary, it was rather amusing… to say the least.

To avoid being smothered, and bothered by Matsumoto, who had been pushing him to help out with the party, he sneaked out of the house, promising himself that he'd be back in time for the party. Toushiro found himself being led by his feet to the infamous railing, located near the soccer field. The first time he came across this place, which was almost 4 years ago, he found the scenery really soothing. Whenever he would come to the human world, he made sure to drop by this place. What he liked the most about this place was the sunset. It reminded him of his childhood. The sunset was almost similar to the one they had back when he was still living in Ryukongai with his grandmother. Those days were pure bliss for Toushiro. His grandmother was the only family he ever had. How he missed those days. Back then, all he did was laugh, eat, play, and then eat some more, then mess with bed-wetter Momo's hair. Momo would then cry in front of his grandmother, and that ended with him being punished, by not being allowed to eat his favorite fruit, watermelons. This very place reminded him of those good old days, having such a childhood, reminded him that he was just like everyone else.

He stood there in front of the railing, watching in awe as the sun was beginning to set. He was so into it that he didn't notice that Kurosaki Karin had crept up behind him. Karin, upon seeing Toushiro's look of awe, wanted to tease him, by pushing him off the railing. That would have been funny and she would have been really content, but somehow, just watching him leaning at the railing and intently gazing at the setting sun was contenting enough. Karin turned to leave, not wanting to bother the peaceful looking shinigami captain, which was rare, by the way. She had not noticed that a rather large piece of rock was in the ground in front of her, Karin accidentally stepped on it, and was about to trip backwards, when the aforementioned shinigami captain had caught her just in time.

"That's like… The third time you've caught me like this." She said with a smirk

"It's because you've managed to act stupid for three times… Maybe more…" said Hitsugaya. He helped Karin back to her feet and leaned on the railing once more.

"Yeah well... Tripping doesn't make you less of a person. Everyone trips and falls every now and then…" said Karin, smiling at him.

"But it helps if you're always on your guard. At least you could prevent yourself from falling." Said Toushiro, not tearing his gaze away from the sunset.

"True. But then, what's the fun in a life without falling? That would be too boring!" she said as she moved next to him and leaned on the railing as well.

"Are you saying that falling is fun?" asked Hitsugaya. Karin looked curiously at him.

"Eh? It could be! But most of the time It's just painful." Said Karin

"You said it yourself, falling is painful. Then it's just natural to try and prevent it in the first place." He said, almost bitterly.

"Are we still talking about falling? Or are we talking about a different kind of falling?" Karin said, looking curiously at the white-haired genius.

"What did you think we were talking about?" asked Toushiro, raising an eyebrow at her. Karin laughed softly.

"I thought we were talking about you… Err nevermind… But you know… If you're about to fall and you suddenly realize there's nothing you could do about it, even if you know it's going to hurt, you should just brace yourself and fall. The pain's going to go away in time anyway…And falling doesn't mean you're stupid. It means you're just like everybody else."

"That's… really deep Kurosaki." He simply said.

"I can be deep! Nothing wrong with that, right?" said Karin, Toushiro couldn't help but smile at the younger Kurosaki.

"I guess…"

"Is it the end of the world?! You just smiled!"

"I did not! Idiot." Toushiro lightly whacked her on the head and turned away from her, blushing.

"Ow! No need to deny it! I saw it with my own eyes! Hitsugaya Toushiro, 10th squad captain, resident genius, just smiled! This is big news! Wait till the others hear about this!" said the very ecstatic Karin.

"Hey! I'll kill you if you tell them!"

"Not if you can't catch me!" Karin ran for her life with a huge grin on her face while the young captain chased after her. Karin was glad that just this once, Toushiro was chasing after her not because a hollow was there, but it was as if they were playing tag. Karin ran towards the soccer field, Toushiro was a really fast runner and he would have been able to catch up to her easily, but when Karin turned to face him, he was slowing down, and looking at the other side of the field. Someone was standing there, and that person was now walking across the field, towards Toushiro. The person was unmistakably female.

"Shiro-chan…"

"Hinamori…"

Rukia sighed, for the fifth, maybe sixth time today. She was beat… really beat. And the party hasn't even started yet. Afraid that the house would fall apart if they were left unsupervised, Rukia, along with Shin and Ayame, followed the 11th squad guys closely. When Yachiru had suggested going out into the town, Rukia almost had a heart attack. It took a while to convince Yachiru to stay inside the house, but when she gave her Ichigo's psp to play with, her idea to go into town disappeared quicker than Ikkaku's hair. She just hoped that Ichigo's psp would still be in one piece when Yachiru gets bored with it. Tatsuki, Inoue, and Yuzu came to help with the food for the party later, and it was a good thing Yuzu was there, Matsumoto and Inoue were discussing about a really weird recipe that they really wanted to make. The men, on the other hand, were quite a pain.

Kenpachi and Ikkaku almost drew their zanpakutou's out when Ayame came across a martial arts show on television when she was flipping through the channels, and when they were not calming down, Shin had to step up and offer Kenpachi a friendly match, which of course, the latter accepted without second thought. Shin unwillingly took them to Urahara's shop. Yumichika was not really a handful though, probably because he was fascinated with looking at himself at the mirror in the bathroom. Rukia lay in the bed, at the room she was sharing with Ayame, the party was about to begin, but she wanted to take a nap so bad. It had been a very long day after all. She was about to close her eyes, when she heard the door open and someone hurriedly entered and closed the door.

"Shin?" Rukia sat up, surprised that it had been Shin who suddenly entered without even knocking.

"R-rukia-san! Sorry… I didn't know you were here…Can I hide her for a while?" Shin looked as if he had been running the marathon, he was sweating and panting for breath and his long black hair was disheveled.

"Sure… but… What happened to you?"

"I took Zaraki-taichou and Ikkaku-san to the underground training room at Urahara-san's, but I really didn't want to fight with him so I quickly left. He chased after me and I ran as fast as I could, and I figured, that he wouldn't think I'd hide in a girl's room so here I am…" explained Shin, who spoke in huffed sentences.

"Ohh… Poor you then, that man's crazy. But you don't have to worry, Zaraki-taichou's not really good with directions, I bet he's running all over town trying to find his way back here…" said Rukia. Shin sighed in relief.

"That's good to hear then…"

"Take a seat, Shin. You look really tired!" offered Rukia

"Thank you, Rukia-san…" Shin sat on the floor, but when Rukia indicated the bed, he shyly stood up and sat a few inches away from her.

"The party's about to start, and everything's gonna be crazy again, so you better take a break first…" said Rukia, as she laid on the bed once more.

"Can I really stay here, Rukia-san? I don't want to intrude…" said Shin

"Nonsense! I can't fall asleep anyway, we could just talk for a while before the party starts…"

"Sure." He answered

"So then!" Rukia sat up again. "How do you find the real world Shin?" she asked

"It's really interesting… I've only been here for a short time, but I already like this place…" said Shin

"Yeah this town's great isn't it? Wait till spring comes and all the cherry blossoms in the park blooms. It's quite a sight…" she said, remembering last year's spring… when Ichigo had taken her to the park, walking along the sakura trees, holding each other's hands… then arguing over something so stupid afterwards, and then making up a few minutes later. Rukia suddenly started crying.

"Rukia-san…?" called Shin

"Oh… Sorry didn't mean to reminisce… Hehe…" Shin reached out, and wiped the tears off her face. And when he realized what he had done, he blinked a couple of times.

"S-sorry about that… It's just that… I don't want to see a crying girl…" he said, slightly embarrassed. Rukia gave him a soft smile.

"You know… you're unexpectedly a soft and sensitive person…" said Rukia

"I get that a lot Rukia-san… People seem to think differently though, when they first meet me…" he said

"That's because you have such a cold-looking exterior! You're a good looking guy Shin, you should smile more often!" said Rukia, as she patted Shin on the back.

"Thanks… I guess… Uhmm…" he began to say

"Yes?"

"If you ever feel the need to talk to someone…Well… You could talk to me… Not as your vice-captain, of course, but as your friend, Rukia-san." Said Shin, and for the first time, Rukia saw Shin's genuine and from the heart smile. Although a bit surprised, Rukia thought his smile… was something refreshing.

"Thank you…Shin…"

"Are you sure he didn't want to come?"

"Yeah… I tried to force him but he really insisted on staying."

"That's too bad… Rukia-san must be expecting to see him…" said Kosuke. He and Renji were making their way to the shinigami's residence. Renji took a break from his training with Ichigo.

"That guy… He's really determined to gain his powers back… It's quite scary actually…" said Renji

"I know what you mean, I was kinda peeking on your training earlier… And he looked ready to kill just to get his reiatsu back…"

"I just hope he gets it back soon, I wanna spend more time with my Aya-chan!!" said Renji, the thought of Ayame turned his eyes into hearts.

"Haha…It's been a while since I've seen the others! I hope this party's going to be a blast!" said Kosuke excitedly

"We should hurry then, we're already late. Better stay away from the 11th squad guys… They'll force you to drink, until you can barely feel your legs… Don't want a hang-over…"

"Stay away from Matsumoto-san then, since she's pregnant and she can't drink, she'll have the others drink for her!" said Kosuke. They rounded up the street and arrived in front of the house. Renji pressed on the door bell and the door was answered by a very harassed looking Shin.

"Hey…" Shin greeted.

"Shin-kun! What happened to you?!" asked Kosuke

"Yeah, you look really wasted." Said Renji

"Matsumoto-san…" he simply answered.

"Shin! There you are! I told you, you should always stay by my side! If I do, then maybe my kid will be good-looking like you!" said a red in the face Matsumoto as she hugged, or rather squeezed the life out of Shin.

"Help." He pleaded, but before Kosuke and Renji could do anything, Matsumoto dragged Shin away.

"Is she drunk? Isn't alcohol bad for the baby?" said Renji

"Technically, it is… But since the baby is due soon, I don't think the baby would be affected that much…" said Ayame as she came up behind them.

"My Aya-chan! I've missed you so much!" Renji and Ayame lunged into each other's arms.

"I missed you too! Ren-chan!!" The lovesick couple were hugging each other, as if the end of the world was coming. Kosuke greeted the 3rd squad vice-captain, but since she was so into Renji, she didn't notice him at all. He quickly left the two hugging by the door, and entered the living room, where the party was being held. It was really crazy. Everyone was there. The senior captains, Ukitake, Kyouraku, Kenpachi, and Unohana, where playing mahjong, and drinking at the same time. Kyouraku seemed to be crying to Ukitake, and to Kosuke's father Kisuke (who was watching his former comrades play), about Nanao being mean to him again. Inoue, Yachiru, and Rukia, were singing happily on the rented karaoke machine, although their tone was a bit off. The stoic quincy, Ishida simply watched his girlfriend, Inoue and the indifferent Chad, sat next to him. Ichigo's sister Yuzu, chatted with Nemu and Isane. Ikkaku, Yumichika, Shuuhei, Iba, and even his mother, Yorouichi, were all bothering Kuchiki Byakuya about having a drinking contest with them. Kosuke looked all over the place, and had failed to notice that he bumped into someone. It was Kira Izuru.

"Kosuke-san! You surprised me! I thought you were…errr.. never mind…" said Kira, he looked rather scared.

"Kira-san, you okay?"

"Yeah… Hitsugaya-taichou isn't here yet, is he?" asked Kira, he was stuttering.

"I haven't seen him yet. Why do you ask?"

"Nothing… See you around then!" said Kira, as he hurriedly ran.

"What was that?" Kosuke continued to look around the room again, this time, his eyes were searching for someone… and there she was, sitting on the stairs alone. Kosuke plucked up his courage and he began making his way towards her. She looked as if she was deep in thought, she hadn't even noticed that Kosuke was already sitting beside her.

"Soi Fon-san?" called Kosuke, but she didn't seem to hear him… "Soi Fon-san?" he called again and moved closer to her and saw, that her eyes were closed and she was red in the face. Her head drifted off to Kosuke's shoulder.

"Are you drunk?" he asked, but he didn't get an answer, she was already asleep.

"Kosuke! Take care of her, will ya?" called Yorouichi. "I only gave her a couple of shots, and she was instantly knocked out. Take her to her room upstairs…." A couple of shots, meant at least a dozen, in his mother's vocabulary. Kosuke picked her up, bridal style, and laid her down unto her bed, she looked so peaceful while she slept. Kosuke couldn't help himself… He leaned down, into her face, and kissed her on the lips. He was about to pull back, when he felt her kissing him back passionately. It was intense. It felt so good to him, but this wasn't right… she was clearly drunk and was not thinking properly, and him, being the sober one, should be the one to stop, but he couldn't do it. He couldn't bring himself to stop it. Soi fon was the love of his life after all… he had missed her terribly. He probably will regret doing this, later on… but he really couldn't stop, and so… he dove into temptation.

a/n: finally updated... sooooooo sorry! i know you guys are probably tired if hearing my excuses... Sigh... But please review this one too... arigatou...