Dislclaimer: I do not own Bleach, just trying to get by without wishing on doing so.
+--Red Moon Winter--+
"Family isn't about whose blood you have. It's about who you care about."
+…
+--His Family Matters--+
Counting every single minute and seconds until drowning into something that feels so new, there was no going back anymore on the decision that had been made. Karin stared at herself in the mirror, the fearful look upon her face wasn't going to help by telling her brother about wanting to marry right away and the ring that was weighing down upon her left hand wasn't helping either. Yesterday she had simply asked Toushiro to marry her as soon as possible; he seemed to have waited for that so long ago that in the morning she had awakened with the ring on her finger.
In spite of the growing anxiety, she managed to admire the beautiful silver ring with a large square diamond surrounded by tiny blue sapphires around it. Numbers couldn't possibly account the way she was feeling, putting aside all worry and fear, there was happiness steeling into the dark shadows of all the bad things from the past and filling it deeply. She could this, she had to. The sound of the roaring engine of the Porsche came; her dark eyes stared past the window and at the red car. Ichigo had a tendency of changing cars so much, especially since he would trade them with other people or give them as gifts to their closest friends.
In the early wee hours of the morning, there had been a call to the house from Kuchiki Byakuya and it seemed to have been important. Of course, her sister-in-law's sister was in the delivery room already early in the morning. She had wanted to go with him; unfortunately being pregnant didn't exactly give the same energy as before. He looked tired as he entered; perhaps it wasn't the perfect moment to tell him about her sudden engagement and upcoming wedding either--not when he looked so tired.
"Welcome home, Kurosaki-sama." She greeted him, taking Ichigo's suitcase and closing the door. "Would you like something to eat?"
Ichigo sighed, trying to not drown suddenly on the growing pressure of everything around him. "No, thank you."
"Welcome home, Ichi-nii." Karin greeted him. "What the hell happen to you?"
The orange haired man walked towards her, kissing her forehead and taking a seat right besides her. "So fucking tired from hearing people bickering all the time about the merging of companies," Ichigo groaned as he shrugged himself out of his jacket. "I had to get up at three in the morning to go to the hospital. A difficult day, he just decided to come out."
"I'm sorry, wished that I had the chance to go." She expressed, looking at his tired face. "So, what happen to Hisana-chan?"
"Byakuya is the proud father of a baby boy, Raito." Her brother said, sighing again. "Looks exactly like his father."
Karin smiled, "I'm glad to hear that."
"He'll be a healthy kid, perhaps with a stick up his ass like his father," he grinned. "I won't mind though. Kazuki and Koji were rather eager about it, Rukia of course seemed to be glad about it."
"Kazuki and Koji will have more playmates," her nephews were extremely cute on their own way.
Silence suddenly fell between the two siblings; Ichigo closed his eyes and allowed the tiredness to take over him. Karin saw his chest rising and falling, he overworked too hard when there was not even a need on doing so, but he was a very important man. Somehow, she started to think of how her super brother managed to do a lot of things at once; being a young father at the beginning, marrying a woman at a young age, unaffected by the people's gossip about him and just being himself.
Not many people were aware of her likeness towards her brother, frankly people would simply find it odd that Ichigo's little sister would even have emotions at all. Everyone would expect that kind of behaviour from Yuzu, but never from Karin herself because she rarely spoke about any family things. Then again, people were not very intelligent to say the least and try to see beyond of her image in the public's eye.
The door opened, the smiling faces of Kazuki and Koji came as they ran past their mother and up to their rooms. Rukia huffed, lifting the smaller Kurosaki child in her hands and looking over at them.
"Hello Karin-chan, see that he's fallen asleep." Rukia greeted her.
"He's tired, and there's a congratulations for you on becoming an aunt." She made to stand, but sighing in defeat when the weight of her stomach impedes her from doing so.
"Thank you," Rukia sat on the smaller couch and put Amaya in her lap. "Raito is already being spoiled by Byakuya-niisama."
The two women continued to chat, Karin seemed to want to forget the little agreement that which she had made with Toushiro. Perhaps it wasn't the very precise perfect moment to announce it, eventually it would happen due to the fact that they were going to get married soon--but allowing the consuming happiness of a new child in the Kuchiki family to overcome might help.
Though, Rukia could not help but notice the strange look that her sister-in-law had. It was rare to see her look so troubled, she hadn't gone to work for a week already due to the almost arrival of her child, but there was something that did not feel right at all.
"Karin, are you alright?" She worried, it wasn't normal to see her look so distraught and it wouldn't do any good in her condition.
"I-I'm fine, just a little anxious." The young woman evaded the truth altogether, it wasn't proper and she wasn't steeling herself away from the truth either. The timing was just so wrong. "I'm just slightly stressed, nothing big to worry about." With a smile on her face, Karin stood up and dusted her dress.
The raven haired woman wanted to believe that, but it seemed that something strange between her and her boyfriend was going on--though they were hard to figure out. Frankly, it wasn't even her business to begin with and there shouldn't be anyone prying into their private affairs--she would let it go this time around.
"Of course, I know the feeling sometimes as well." She smiled softly, trying so hard not to look more obvious.
…+
Karakura hadn't changed any since nearly fifteen years ago, it looked just as plainly as ever and boring. Of course, it had been one of the main reasons to have left town and the country altogether. She smiled daintily, her brown hair bellowed with the wind rushing inside from the window. People would be surprised to see her back, what would her ex-husband say? And, what about that child that which she had left behind? So many years had gone by already, yet there was some kind of hope that the child hadn't forgotten her entirely and might want to establish a relationship.
Her bluish-green eyes stared down at the small size picture of a white haired boy, the little smile that which he had seemed to be happy and his white hair was just messy. All of those precious memories seemed to have faded over the years, until now, it was time to return and re-establish her place again in the family. Maybe she could explain it clearly, show them both that there had been reasons to have gone from this place, but was sure to never leave again.
The road leading to the mansion didn't feel so long now, the house seemed to have changed entirely as trees surrounded it--mainly they were cherry blossom trees. The mansion looked the same still, only a few details had been transformed during the past 15 years. The Italian designed statue had already been removed, replaced only by another statue of a dragon. She got out of the car, immediately a butler came out around the corner and spotted her.
"Good afternoon," the butler greeted her, bowing as a sign of respect. "How may I help you?"
"I've come to see Hitsugaya Ryo and his son." The brown haired woman replied, looking around and trying to find the old workers. "Is Kaito around? He'll know the answer to my problems.
"I'm terribly sorry, my father cannot help you." The young butler replied, looking at the woman and examining her profile. "My name is Kaichi, Kaito was my father. Unfortunately, my father passed away five years ago."
"Oh, I am sorry to hear such tragedy." The woman expressed, looking at the man before her. "Is Ryo or Toushiro around?"
Kaichi shook his head, "No, Hitsugaya-sama has left the house for business and Toushiro-sama is out at the office. Him and his family will return home in an hour or so."
The woman's eyes widened slightly, did that butler just said that her son had a family already? It couldn't possibly be, how old was Toushiro now? He was seven when she left, fifteen years later he would be turning 22 due to his birthday being until December.
"Him and his family, whatever do you mean by it?" The woman asked, wanting to clear up everything right at the moment.
"I'm terribly sorry, but that is the family business." Kaichi bowed. "You may return later, Toushiro-sama does not allow strangers inside the house while he's not here. If you like, you may go to the garden area and await for him there. Excuse me."
"No! I am Hitsugaya Emi, Ryo's wife and mother to Toushiro." She stated firmly. How dare these people treat her like that? A stranger, Emi would laugh it off in a matter of seconds. "Where's my respect in this house?"
Kaichi glared at her, Hitsugaya Emi had not existed in the family for over fifteen years and counting still. Fifteen years ago the mistress of the house had left; he had been a ten year old boy then.
He stared at the tall woman, the bright red coat and the sound of her heels was very normal to hear around the house. She smiled kindly at everyone, faking happy emotions and everything for the sake of the family. Kaichi knew well that it was never that easy to lie, making people believe that it was a happy household when truly it was the opposite.
"Ryo, you bastard," Hitsugaya Emi muttered harshly. "How dare you say something like that in front of me?"
The white haired man stepped back and forth in the small space, Kaichi was never the one to pry on their business at all. Hitsugaya Ryo did not look exactly pleased, when would anyone looked pleased when they were seeing their own wife holding herself so tightly onto another man?
"Because you know that it is true," Ryo responded in a very stressing tone, "Emi, you allowed Toushiro to see you hold yourself so tightly against that miserable man. If you only would pay closely attention to him, perhaps you might figure out that he isn't stupid."
"Don't! Just don't, leave him out of this." The brown haired woman expressed. "Did I not tell you to keep him at your side?"
Ryo laughed, "Toushiro isn't the one to stand still, and he's an adventurous child and gets curious." Kaichi could see that this wasn't going to finish in a very happy note.
He shouldn't be listening anymore, but the action was just hard to push aside at the moment. His father would be angry, yelling about how much of a prying kid he was and that he should stay away from the family matters.
"You know what Ryo, I'm not going to put up with your accusations anymore!" Emi grabbed her handbag and threw her husband a dirty look. "Tomorrow I'll have people take my things from the house, you'll get the divorce papers and you'll keep the child for his own good. I'm leaving this household and your dictatorship!"
Hitsugaya-sama had not said a single word during that time, the small seven year old boy never cried or asked about his missing mother. Kaichi had not known what to do or think back then, only that this woman was never to be allowed back inside the Hitsugaya home anymore after leaving like that.
"Still, I am very--" Emi cut the young butler off, walking past him and bumping into him. How dare he! No one in this household was allowed to treat anyone like that, but of course, Ryo was always the one to be so judicious about everyone. If that man could, he would have every one of his friends and colleagues have a background check just to make sure they weren't dodgy people.
Kaichi stood there in the staircase, watching the woman in red disappear into the house. This was going to have a high cost, especially since Toushiro had just recently moved back along with his girlfriend and son; not to mention the upcoming arrival of a new member into the family. He groaned, wishing and praying that he would not return anytime soon or perhaps Emi would leave first.
Wishing had been a little too much. The shiny black car was already on its way to the parking lot, not that they wouldn't notice the other car on the other end. The young butler simply stood his place, as always, to greet the family and guiding them inside.
"Good afternoon," Kaichi found it hard to even speak more than that.
"Good afternoon, Kaichi." The white haired young man replied, handing him his car keys.
"Kaichi-san!" Yoshiro smiled at him. Karin simply smiled kindly, holding onto the small boy's hand as he stood beside her.
"Kaichi, what's with that expression?" Toushiro asked, seeing the brown haired man in front of him looking so lost.
"I am terribly sorry, Hitsugaya-sama." He bowed, using the most formal speech that could ever be spoken between the two.
The white haired young man arched his brow, when had his butler suddenly called him by surname? Formality wasn't that important, it was almost unethical if formal speech wasn't used in front of his father, let alone when the house was filled with important people and things like that. Something felt wrong there, Kaichi was never the one to look like there was something wrong at all.
"Did something happen?" Karin asked suddenly, looking at Kaichi. "You didn't let Saki cook, did you?"
He shook his head, afraid that the young master's mother would suddenly come out. Of course, evoking her like that made everything happen so quickly. Hitsugaya Emi walked down the steps of the entrance, the small smile that hung on her lips was still very pleasant and her eyes stared at the couple. So, that was the family that suddenly sprung up out of nowhere.
"Toushiro? Is that really you?" Emi expressed, keeping her tone of surprise still. "You have grown so much, my son."
Karin stared at the unknown woman, had she just said that was Toushiro's mother? How bizarre, he had never mentioned her at all.
"What are you doing here?" Toushiro tensed up, locking his jaws tightly while eating all his words back.
Emi smiled, enclosing herself within the range of her son and holding out her hand to touch his face. Of course, after fifteen years things wouldn't be the same at all as the once small boy turned away, denying her love.
"How ungrateful," Emi scoffed, looking at the young black haired woman with a rather big stomach and a small boy staring up at her. "Oh, what do we have here? You sure that my son is the father?"
"Excuse me?" Karin glared at the woman.
"She's my fiancée and that's my son, please be careful on how you address them." Toushiro said, holding onto Karin's hand.
"I am terribly sorry; I wasn't accustomed on seeing other girls then Momo-chan here." The brown haired woman smiled, changing her tone entirely. "Is that really your son? Usually all Hitsugaya children have white hair."
Karin jerked her hand, but was held back tightly by Toushiro to avoid a fight. That woman had the nerve to speak so stupidly like that.
"Did you not hear my warning? What do you want here anyways?" Toushiro got defensive. "My father no longer has the right to give you anything, not when you resigned upon your rights to everything--including myself."
Emi chuckled, of course he would be so strong willed like that man and perhaps even much more smarter. She had been highly aware of his genius, speaking at a rather young age and already knowing much more than normal children of his own age. Going to science fairs at the tender age of five, having many lessons to attend to unlike the other little children--Toushiro had been gifted with a talent. The small black haired boy looked like him, those bright turquoise eyes were unmistakably her son's eyes and even the way they gazed up at her.
"I know, but I have not come for that." She said, tone changing suddenly. "Toushiro, my only son, I have come to ask for forgiveness."
Toushiro stared at her suddenly, what had that woman just said? Fifteen years had already passed, a little too long now to come and ask for such atrocious thing from him. Forgiveness, she dared to speak of something like that. Being abandoned at a young age seemed to have hit slightly hard, spending almost an entire three year period wondering what he had done wrong would not replace her sudden appearance.
"Get out of the property grounds," he walked passed her while dragging his fiancee with him and son. "Kaichi, tell Shinji and Kotetsu to show this woman out of the premises."
"Toushiro, wait! Wait, you have to hear me out." Emi pulled him back, but having her hands smacked away.
"Get. Out. Of. My. Sight." He expressed each single word in emphasis. "I can't forgive you! Not when you have not swallowed up your errors." Toushiro did not want to speak, did not want to hear her voice and seeing her beg like those simple minded people.
He couldn't, he did not want to for the sake of not trying to relieve three years of waste less efforts to have her back and continuing being a happy family. Happy families did not exist with people alike, but seeing his own son and Karin made him forget that; in contrary it made him want to become more.
"Toushiro…" Karin could not help it. Seeing the pain growing in his eyes was horrid, it had been a look that she wished him not to have anymore since so long ago. She knew that this wasn't a very good beginning at all.
…+
In truth, I think I'm losing interesting in this story. I'm just running out of ideas for it, and probably I'll end up putting it on hiatus for good. I'm not sure though. Next week school starts back again, 2nd semester doesn't look bright at all. Though I hate quitting things, so I'll most likely end this story in the next 2-3 chapters and move to another story I want to write for the same couple. Other ideas are flowing in my head, maybe that's why this story is taking me time to write. Well, why is Toushiro's mother back? That I can't be sure, but lets just say it's to annoy him before he marries Karin. Maybe I'll make her evil and try to do something bad to Karin, I'm not sure. Off to continue writing at least 2 more chapters before Monday! Hit that button, pretty please. I hate begging!!
