Author's Note: Hi, everybody! We're so sorry to have been gone for so long, and we hope you forgive us. Vacations and summer school projects and computer meltdowns kind of held us up… But we just want to say THANK YOU! Frozen Moments has over a hundred reviews! We are quite frankly amazed and dazed and extremely grateful! Please continue to support us!
We'd like to dedicate this installment to Ability Writer KK, for being the 100th reviewer as well as providing the prompt, and to Vilutski, for being the 101st reviewer!
We'd like to thank the following people for alerting, reviewing, or adding this story to their favorites list: anna1594, Turtle-chan in Blue, meggie-moo s, Shizuku700, SilverDragonEyeCardSpiritWolf, Ability Writer KK, strawberryfishcakes, Tempest Rose, ichilover3, Thelanblossom, lazyguy90, gabi1010, othchick11, Evslayer, roystealer, KittyRiotLuvsYew053, Red-Haired-Jack, ScienceAngel, Doremon, oOoHKoOo, DeathMeetsLife, kiri123, fanofanime, Ginevra1988, SomeRandomPerson053, Vilutski, fleurdefeu, amirasyaz, chiharuSAICHI, alexsstrawberry, PunkRockHolly, paws-bells, Quiet Moon, kusanagi10, ThePeopleStillSleeping, MorningStar04, LabsbyEiree, KKH913, Reiuko, kikumarubazooka, kmz, lazyflower, Theoracle-san, bleach-gurl-katie, myrrdinowl, Lost-Lullabies, FuyuKiba, KazeNoSakura, soulful100, MisplacedWit, PhelpstwinsandElftwins, misskarolinax, PersephoneWhitlockCullen, Photophobic, puma1sunfire, Sayo-chan64, SkyDancer101, whitewolf207, Cereza2000, Ellardis Merithdire, rimiish, bjacobs101, grayqueen, -xox. Sinnae .xox-, Queen Daenerys, Vampqueen27, Mew Angels Crystal Tears, and KairiOliver. (If we've forgotten you, tell us!) Thank you to everyone who's read this drabble series as well. :D
Note: Certain pen names, namely those with a period in the middle, have been spelled wrong so that Document Manager will not erase them. We apologize to anyone who is offended by this.
This prompt is courtesy of Ability Writer KK, and is set ten or twelve years or so in the future, post-Winter War. (If anyone would like to give me a prompt, just PM me. It'll probably take a while to get written, what with the ten or so requests I've got waiting, but it'll pop up, promise! :)
Summary: Ichigo couldn't believe his eyes. The midget was cheating on his little sister with his other little sister!
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters. They belong solely to Tite Kubo. However, if there was an alternate universe where I do own Bleach, I will promptly give my left arm to switch with my other self. :)
Chapter Fourteen: Sister
...
...
...
Part One: Where Ichigo Sets a Restaurant on Fire
...
...
...
Sometimes, Ichigo couldn't understand his sisters at all.
Take their choice of boyfriends, for example. Yuzu was over the moon for some red-headed, spiky-haired braggart who was mostly raised by Urahara, for crying out loud! That last fact alone had Ichigo questioning her sanity. But at least the little twerp was properly terrified by Ichigo's threats of castration and unending pain if he so much as made Yuzu frown. The expression on Jinta's face the first time Ichigo gave him the "hurt-her-and-you-don't-want-know-what-I'll-do-to-you" talk (Isshin was obviously too eager for grandchildren to handle it) was still one of Ichigo's most treasured memories.
Ah, good times, good times.
Karin's boyfriend, on the other hand…
Ichigo scowled, remembering Toushirou's totally unfazed, almost bored expression when Ichigo was giving him the same talk. Well, it was only natural, he supposed. Toushirou was a taichou of the Gotei 13 and had a bankai of his own—besides, Karin herself could probably beat him up if he made her cry. But still. The midget didn't even have the decency to pay attention while Ichigo was talking! The only time the look on his face had changed was when Karin had run down the stairs, ready for their date.
For the briefest of seconds, Ichigo would've sworn he was smiling.
So he'd grudgingly accepted Toushirou's place as Karin's significant other, and Jinta's place as Yuzu's. Didn't mean he was happy about it, but his sisters were, and that's what mattered. So far, both relationships had withstood the test of time, and he was fully expecting Jinta, at least, to propose, since Yuzu had always said she wanted to be married by the time she was twenty-five, and she was now twenty-four. Karin and Toushirou didn't appear to be in any hurry, however, much to Isshin's dismay. Ichigo was just fine with it, and most days ignored his father's laments and his sisters' love lives.
On days like today, however, his sister's actions mystified him.
It was December 21st, the day right after Toushirou's birthday. Everybody was back in Karakura for the holidays, and everybody was still slightly drunk from the birthday bash last night. There had been lots of food (including a ten-layer birthday cake)…and way too much drinking…and dancing…and games involving mistletoe, pantyhose, and reindeer hats…which was right around the time that Ichigo's brain gave up remembering anything. However, he did manage to recall an odd little whispered conference between Toushirou and Yuzu, taking place just before he passed out. His honey-haired sister had winked at the frigid shinigami, and said something to the effect of "Can't wait to tell everyone," and "Momo and I will finally be sisters."
It was that last sentence that now contributed to Ichigo's raging hangover headache. Groaning, he leaned against the balcony railing, breathing in the late morning air and blearily trying to piece together the clues. From what he could gather, it looked like Toushirou was in a hurry after all, and Isshin would probably soon get his wish: walking one of his daughters down the aisle.
Ichigo scowled at that thought, and made a mental note to ask Toushirou his intentions. The little twerp ought to at least ask him for Karin's hand in marriage before blabbing the news to everyone else, right? And why on earth hadn't Karin told him, huh? Wasn't he her big brother? Didn't he have a right to know that his little sister was engaged?
Giving another sigh, Ichigo decided not to worry about it for now, and was going to head back into his and Orihime's house and make his wife some breakfast…okay, maybe brunch would be a better term, seeing as it was nearly noon. For himself, a cup of strong, black coffee sounded great…
Hey, wasn't that Toushirou walking down the street?
Ichigo paused in mid-thought, watching his friend look furtively around before heading in the direction of a nearby park. Ichigo nearly called out a greeting, but stopped himself, feeling slightly suspicious. Going inside and leaving a note for Orihime saying he was off for a walk, Ichigo quickly walked to the park, pulling a baseball cap on to hide his bright orange hair. It wouldn't do for his maybe future brother-in-law to catch him spying—ahem, cough, innocently observing.
At the park, hiding in behind the trunk of a convenient tree, Ichigo peered at his target. There Toushirou was, nervously sitting on a bench and apparently waiting for somebody, if the way he constantly looked around was any indication. Ichigo wondered briefly who on earth the shinigami taichou was going to meet, when his little sister's voice called out happily.
"Toushirou!" cried Yuzu. Dressed in a ruffled white blouse and a pretty yellow skirt, Ichigo's youngest sister made her way to Toushirou and promptly hugged him, standing up on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. The normally frigid taichou hugged her back before anxiously drawing back and looking behind her.
"Are you sure Karin doesn't know about this?" he said.
"Of course not, silly! It's just me and you today. Now let's get going, the restaurant will give our reservation away," Yuzu stated impatiently.
At his hiding place, Ichigo nearly had a heart attack. Toushirou was going on a date with Yuzu? WTF? Had the world gone mad?
In a daze, he followed the pair to a high-class restaurant, Black Noir, which had just opened the week before and was already catering to a significant amount of people. Yuzu and Toushirou walked right past the long line of waiting customers and entered the restaurant. Toushirou, ever the gentleman, opened the door for her and gave a little bow. To Ichigo's relief, they were seated at a table by the window, so he ensconced himself in a bench across the street and promptly pulled out a pair of binoculars (he'd told Renji they'd come in handy someday).
For the next hour, he observed the couple talk and eat and laugh and generally act lovey-dovey. Yuzu looked like she was going to bounce out of her seat in excitement, and Toushirou looked nervous but happy. He even had a goofy smile on his face!
Ichigo was certain he was going to throw up.
What was wrong with them? How could they do this to Karin? Wasn't that white-haired midget wildly in love with her? And Yuzu! Yuzu was her twin! Ichigo was ready to turn that bastard into mulch for cheating on his little sister, but this plan posed some problems as the idiot was cheating on her with his other little sister.
As Ichigo agonized over this moral dilemma (beat him up now or tell Karin and watch her beat him up later...but what about Yuzu...?), he noticed Yuzu leaning forward expectantly. Hitsugaya was putting his hand in his pocket and...he had a small black box! A jewelry case! That could only mean one thing...
The midget was proposing! To the wrong girl!
"Noooo!" Ichigo cried out. Hastily exiting his body and going into shinigami form, he ran into the restaurant and tackled Toushirou, who dropped the ring onto the table and went flying.
Unfortunately, he crashed into a waiter who was holding aloft a birthday cake and a fancy torch to light the candles. The torch sailed in a graceful arc and landed in some nearby (and very flammable) curtains. Chaos ensued as everyone ran for the doors.
Outside as the fire fighters arrived, a sheepish but defiant Ichigo faced an irate Yuzu and an enraged Toushirou.
"Kurosaki..." the latter ground out. "What the hell do you THINK YOU'RE DOING?"
"What am I doing? What are you doing, Toushirou?" yelled Ichigo. "You're cheating on Karin with Yuzu! You stupid bastard! How dare you! All I did was burn down a building. What you're doing is breaking Karin's heart!" Turning to Yuzu, he continued yelling accusations, "And you! Okay, I understand why you might want to break up with Jinta, but going after Karin's boyfriend is just...is just...it's not like you, that's all I'm saying!"
"Onii-chan!" Yuzu said. "I'm not cheating on Jinta! And Toushirou's not cheating on Karin!"
"Oh, yeah?" Ichigo shot back. "Then what was up with the proposal?"
Yuzu's arm smacked into Toushirou as he ran forward, obviously intent on murdering Ichigo. Pouting at her brother, she said, "Onii-chan, Toushirou-kun was just asking me my opinion on whether or not Karin would think the restaurant was romantic, and also if she would like the ring." Turning to Toushirou, she smiled and said, "From what I saw of it, I think it's perfect for her. She'll love it!"
At this point, Ichigo wished the ground would swallow him up. So much for his mad detective skills. Taking a sudden interest in his sandal-clad feet, he began muttering an apology when Toushirou apparently went crazy and ran into the burning building.
"Onii-chan! Stop him!" cried Yuzu. She needn't have bothered. Ichigo was already running after the frantic taichou.
The things I do for my sisters, he thought.
...
...
...
Part Two: Where Toushirou Slowly Loses His Sanity
...
...
...
This was definitely the most stressful week of Hitsugaya Toushirou's life. After all, it isn't every day that you decide to propose to the love of your life.
It hadn't been months in the planning or anything, and it wasn't a calculated decision that involved weighing the pros and cons, like so many other of his choices. It was just a simple realization that took place one morning, waking up beside her and seeing her smile into his eyes. She'd lazily stretched and murmured quietly, "I could be with you every day of my life and still never get enough."
His heart had stopped. And he'd known that that statement was true for him as well, and that he wanted each and every day of his existence to start and end with her beside him. It was that simple.
What wasn't so simple was informing her of his desire to marry her. Of course, both of them knew they'd get married someday, but it wasn't really something they'd ever discussed. They'd never needed to discuss it before. And Toushirou realized he had no clue how to start the conversation. He couldn't just ask her point-blank to marry him, at least not if he wanted her to say yes. It had to be done properly, with candlelight and music and heartfelt declarations of everlasting love. And a ring.
The problem was, he wasn't sure if he could actually pull off any of that stuff. It just wasn't him. He disliked candlelight in general (too much flickering to effectively read paperwork by). He didn't think Karin would appreciate being serenaded by moonlight (they'd always laughed together at the lovesick suitors who'd sing off-key in movies). He'd never actually used more than three words when he told her how he felt about her (he figured if his actions didn't make it clear, nothing would). And the only piece of jewelry he'd ever bought her was a jade dragon pendant she'd seen in a shop window and mentioned she'd liked (well, she'd said it reminded her of him, but that was the same thing).
Obviously, he was going to need some assistance.
So, on Monday, he put his plan into motion and sent Matsumoto a memo, asking for her opinion on diamond rings. Ten minutes later, he'd been surrounded by an ecstatic trio of women consisting of his fukutaichou, his future sister-in-law (Kurosaki Orihime had been visiting for the day), and his adopted sister, Momo. They'd figured out his intentions (How was still a mystery. Diamond rings didn't automatically equal engagements, did they?) and were hell-bent on assisting him in any way possible, whether he wanted them to or not.
So he'd been pulled in a dozen different directions as all three women pointed out their ideal choices. Orihime suggested a simple gold band with a medium-sized stone. Momo's favorite was a ring with a heart-shaped, pink diamond. Matsumoto picked out a bunch of different rings, steadily increasing the size of the diamond before eventually settling on one with a rock the size of her fist.
"Absolutely not," he said stubbornly.
"But, Taichou!" his subordinate had pouted. "Every girl wants to show off the fact that she's taken, and this ring says it all."
"What that ring says is 'Mug me!' Karin will hate it," Toushirou replied impatiently, and continued searching.
After nearly two hours in the store, he settled on a ring. The oval diamond, surrounded by small, exquisitely-cut amethysts and aquamarines, adorned a narrow platinum band. It was perfect.
"Oh, Shiro-chan," breathed Momo. "Karin will love it."
The week passed by pretty quickly after that.
On Tuesday, he visited his grandmother and nervously drank tea with her before blurting out his intentions. She'd laughed and patted him affectionately on the arm, saying how Karin would make a fine wife, and even offered her old lace veil to use in the wedding.
On Wednesday, he prepared himself for certain torture, but nevertheless made his way to the Kurosaki Clinic to ask Isshin for his daughter's hand in marriage. He barely managed to escape with his life, and left the house feeling like his ears were burning from all of Isshin's helpful advice on the best way to procreate.
On Thursday, he visited every high-class restaurant in Karakura before settling on Black Noir as the perfect blend between his definition of elegance and Karin's requirements for style. He pulled a couple of strings and paid a small fortune to get a reservation for lunch on Saturday and dinner on Sunday.
On Friday, he endured his birthday party, which was really just an excuse for his many friends to get drunk. He knocked back a few drinks himself and danced most of the night away with Karin. Still, he managed to hold a whispered conversation with Yuzu and enlisted her aid. The next day, he'd show her the restaurant and the ring, and see if she thought Karin would like it. After all, who'd know better what would make Karin happy than her twin?
On Saturday, he watched his plans go up in flames. Literally.
He didn't understand it. One minute, he was shyly showing Yuzu the engagement ring he'd picked out, and the next he was getting attacked by an enraged Ichigo. After that, all hell broke loose.
Outside, he barely managed to keep from skewering the orange-haired idiot as he accused him of cheating on Karin! As if he'd ever wanted anyone besides her! Incensed, Toushirou slowly counted to ten as Yuzu explained the situation to her moron of a brother. At the end, she'd turned to give her opinion to him.
Toushirou had sighed, partly in relief because she approved of the ring, and partly in regret because the perfect restaurant was burning to the ground as they spoke. Where was he going to propose to Karin now? Toushirou felt his carefully laid plans for a romantic proposal crumble to pieces. It was all Ichigo's damn fault! He turned to glare at his future brother-in-law, who was now guiltily averting his gaze and mumbling an apology. Putting his hands in his pockets, he began to give a scathing reply when he noticed something very, very wrong.
His pockets were empty.
The ring was gone.
Before he knew what he was doing, he was already running through the burning doors. Barely noticing the flames, he frantically searched through the rubble that was the window table. He had to find it! He had to! His hand closed around a small, square case. Suddenly, he could breathe again...except he couldn't, because there wasn't any air. Coughing, he made his way towards the exit, his arm stretched out blindly.
An unexpected form picked him up and threw him over a black-clad shoulder, and swiftly headed outside. Within minutes he was gulping in lungfuls of cool, evening air, Yuzu and a couple of bystanders peering down at him in concern.
"Are you alright, Toushirou-kun?" asked Yuzu anxiously. Toushirou managed to nod in reply. He really had to talk to Urahara about increasing the strength of gigais.
"He just ran in there!" one bystander said.
"Yeah! Like he was possessed or something," another contributed.
"And then an explosion threw him out again! He flew through the air!" one exclaimed in excitement.
Toushirou realized that his savior was probably Ichigo in shinigami form, which explained why "an explosion" carried him through the door and dumped him on the sidewalk. He supposed he should be grateful, but couldn't get past the fact that it was Ichigo's fault he was in a burning building in the first place. Honestly, if he was anyone's brother but Karin...
Yuzu helped him sit up and made him sip from a bottle of water. "Ichigo's body was found across the street, so he had to go chase the ambulance down. He should be back any moment. Oh, here's the ring," she said, pressing the singed box into his hand.
Opening it up to find the ring unharmed, Toushirou breathed a sigh of relief. Gazing at the sparkling symbol of his commitment catching the light of the flames, he smiled a little as an idea occurred to him, a glowing ember found in the ashes of his plans.
Maybe he should thank Ichigo after all.
...
...
...
Part Three: Where Karin Watches the Fireworks Start
...
...
...
Karin suspected there was something going on with her boyfriend. Something odd.
For that matter, there was something wrong with her father, her brother, her brother's wife, and her sister, too. They all seemed to be...expecting...something, but she didn't know what. All she knew was that all the members of her family, minus Ichigo, wore constant maniacal grins around her. Ichigo, on the other hand, wore a constant scowl, but really that was nothing new.
It had all started the day after Toushirou's birthday. She'd been hanging out with Hime-nee when Ichigo, Yuzu, and Toushirou had walked through the door, wearing clothes that smelled like smoke. Hime-nee had instantly stood up and began fussing over them. Karin had simply raised a brow at her boyfriend, silently asking what the hell had happened.
"There was a fire," he stated. "Yuzu and I were having lunch at that new restaurant when it burned down."
"And?" she replied.
"And your brother," he continued, glaring at the offending shinigami, "started it. He also managed to get his body hospitalized again."
That wasn't anything out of the ordinary, as Ichigo destroying property and leaving his body dead on the sidewalk wasn't anything new. They even had a routine now. Ishida Ryuuken would drop Ichigo's gigai off at the clinic, explaining Ichigo's apparently lifeless state to various paramedics by spreading the rumor that Isshin had dropped Ichigo on the head when he was a baby, causing him to develop extreme narcolepsy and a split personality disorder, aka Kon.
Still, usually Ichigo managed to leave Yuzu out of it, and Toushirou was smart enough to avoid him when on a rampage, so this little escapade had a decidedly suspicious hint about it. Karin shrugged it off with her usual aplomb, and decided it was all her brother's fault. Toushirou probably didn't want to talk about it because Ichigo had done something crazy and embarrassing like juggling torches.
However, as the days went by and the odd behavior continued to pile up, Karin knew something was in the works. But when she pressed Toushirou for more information, he merely deflected her questions or told her that he didn't know anything.
Honestly, it was enough to make a girl crazy. Toushirou hadn't acted this mysterious (yet somehow nervous and anticipatory) since the first time they'd been on a date.
She finally got her answer on New Year's Eve. Toushirou had woken her up with a sweet smile and an even sweeter kiss, right before laying a tray of her favorite chocolate waffles across her lap. "Breakfast in bed?" she'd asked.
"Yeah. I was planning on making today special, New Year's Eve and all," he'd said, running his hand through his snow-white hair in that familiar gesture of uncertainty that just melted her heart. So she'd given him another kiss and even deigned to share her waffles with him, a true act of love if there ever was one. Toushirou made the best waffles in the world.
Afterwards, he'd grabbed the brand-new soccer ball he'd given her for Christmas, saying they ought to break it in. Why not head over to the old field where they'd played their first game? It was New Year's; nobody would be there. Laughing at his eagerness, she'd shrugged and said okay. They spent the next three hours kicking the ball around, playing a little one-on-one. She'd stuck her tongue out at him when he'd gone easy on her, glared at him when he'd subsequently scored three goals, and shrieked as he'd tackled her instead of the ball.
"What's up with you today?" she asked, breathless as they sat side by side on the grass. "You seem so happy."
Grinning at her cheekily, he replied, "What do you mean? I'm always happy when I'm around you."
Though she'd rolled her eyes and shook her head, she still couldn't helped but be pleased by that remark.
For lunch, he surprised her yet again by pulling a picnic basket from behind a tree and spreading out a blue-and-white checkered cloth for them to sit on. For dessert, he took her to the little ice cream shop where they'd had their first date, and ordered a vanilla milkshake for them to share. And on their way back home, he'd insisted they go the long route, ending up by their railing, where he'd stopped to lean against it, tugging her close so they could watch the sunset together.
"It's really beautiful, isn't it?" she said.
"Yeah," he answered, looking directly at her. "Most beautiful one I've ever seen."
Blushing a little (even after all these years, it surprised her to realize he thought her beautiful), she tried to cover her embarrassment by arching her brow and asking, "You digging up any more old memories?"
"No. I'd rather make some new ones," he replied, leaning in to steal a kiss.
By the time they got home, she'd figured it out.
"Is this why you've been acting so weird lately? You were planning today?" she asked.
"Kind of," he answered. "Originally we'd be heading out right now to eat a fancy dinner at Black Noir, but Ichigo burned it down, so I had to improvise."
"Oh!" she laughed. "So that's why you were so mad at him a few weeks back. And what do you mean by improvise?"
"I mean this," he said as he tugged her up the stairs to the roof of the house, where a simple candlelit dinner awaited them.
"No way," she breathed. "You did this? Why?"
"I told you, it's New Year's. The death of the year, the birth of the next. I thought it was pretty appropriate," he said mysteriously.
"I'll take your word for it," Karin replied as she sat down, a smile on her face as she looked at him. Toushirou was trying to be romantic—And succeeding, she thought.
After he'd cleared the table and pushed it aside (he insisted on doing it by himself), they'd sat on the roof to watch the fireworks mingle with the stars.
"Karin...?" Toushirou asked.
"Hmmm?" she said, busy watching the dazzling display, before a certain glint cupped in Toushirou's hand caught her eye.
It was a diamond ring, reflecting the glow of the fireworks.
Speechless, she stared at it as the seconds ticked quietly by.
"Karin," Toushirou said. "Will you marry me?"
Her answer was to throw her arms around him and kiss him senseless. Toushirou could accept that. (And he didn't even need to give her that long speech he'd memorized. Whoever said words were the best way to show your love was obviously an idiot, or maybe just a bad kisser, he thought fuzzily).
The next day, Karin was showing off her ring to Yuzu and Orihime at the Kurosaki family dinner, and recounting the entire day leading up to the proposal.
"Wow," Yuzu said softly. "That's really romantic." She sighed a little wistfully before pointedly glancing at Jinta. "I guess this means we won't be having that double wedding, after all. You know, the one we planned as kids?'
Karin and Toushirou merely exchanged grins. "I don't know, Yuzu. As your sister, I feel confident that you can still pull it off," she replied, winking at her fiancé. "After all," she continued, "didn't Ichigo see someone presenting you with a diamond ring a few weeks back?"
Karin had to admit it was cruel of her, but the look of panic on Jinta's face was priceless. She's leave it to Yuzu to decide if to tell him that the diamond ring was the one Toushirou was currently running his thumb over as they held hands.
Yeah, she thought as she laid her head against his shoulder. Life is pretty much perfect.
Endnote: Again, so sorry for the long absence! We hope that the length of this one-shot made it up to you a little bit. *smiling hopefully*
Well, thank you for reading, and please review!