Hullo! ANd thank ye for all thy good reviews! Much appreciated...it's good for a writer to know that their work is actually enjoyed by others :D
ANd yay, my conjunctivitis is clearin up and I got two days off college!
When there was a knock at the door the following afternoon, Karin eagerly went to answer it, hoping that it was Hitsugaya. She was disappointed.
"Oh, Karin-chan, long time no see." The man wearing glasses said as the door opened.
"Oh...Ishida-kun, um...yeah, I guess so." Karin replied, still taking in the fact that it wasn't Hitsugaya.
"So, how is your health?" Uryu Ishida asked, pushing the glasses up on his nose.
"Um...Good, I guess. Can I help you?" She asked. Ishida was her brother's "friend", if one could call him that. The two had been "friendly" rivals since their school days but their father's had been rivals too. Ryuken Ishida and Isshin Kurosaki had always been at each other's throats since they had both ran medical clinics and they had always been in competition to see whose was better. Their ridiculous rivalry was not helped by the fact that their workplaces were directly opposite one another. Karin was just glad that they kept their families out of it...aside from the sons, of course. Ichigo and Ishida now ran the clinics and they were no better than their fathers had been.
"Yes, is your brother in?" Ishida asked.
"Hai, one moment." She said. She dashed back into the house and yelled, "ICHI-NII, ISHIDA-KUN'S HERE TO SEE YA!"
Ishida's brow quivered in annoyance. Ichigo was such a bad influence on his sisters; he spoke with such bad manners at times and it reflected. Ichigo was not fit to run a medical facility, though he had noticed a change in Kurosaki's mannerisms up until a few days ago. He had been like that since he came back from abroad with his wife so Ishida had thought that the bright-haired man had finally decided to act according to his age and status but then he'd gone back to being the usual goof.
"Would you like to come in?" Karin asked, holding the door open to for him to step through.
"Thank you." He said as he entered the house. Karin led him over to drawing room and bid him sit down.
They sat in silence for a while, awaiting the presence of Ichigo. Both were unfazed by the silence; both were the type of people who saw no reason to talk if there was no reason to talk. The silence was broken a minute or so later by the sound of hurried footsteps outside the room and then the door opened quickly.
"Karin-san...Can I please..." Orihime trailed off as she entered the room and saw that Ishida was sitting there also. "Ah, Gomenasai." She bowed deeply and then made to backtrack out of the room as fast as possible but she banged into Ichigo, who was just about to come in. She gave a barely suppressed squeal as she started to tumble to the ground but Ichigo's arm wound about her waist, halting her fall. Orihime flushed red as a tomato as she was set upright. "Gomenasai, Kurosaki-san." She said as she turned to face him and bowed.
"S'ok." Ichigo said noncommittally, waving her apology aside. "Yo, Ishida!" He said as he moved past Orihime and went to join his sister and his rival.
"Kurosaki." Ishida said by way of greeting.
At that moment, Karin was smirking at two things; the comical scene at the door and the fact that Ishida was kind of staring at Orihime.
"What were you saying before, Orihime?" She asked the maid.
"Oh, Hai, um...I-I had a small...request..." She stammered.
"Oh, well, go on." Karin said patiently.
Orihime was visibly nervous and embarrassed. "Um...Er...Never mind." She said as she bowed and exited. Karin raised her eyebrow quizzically and got up to go and see what it was that the maid wanted.
Ishida gazed questioningly at the door and then minutely shook his head and turned his attention to Ichigo. "So...Kurosaki..."
"What's up?" Karin asked as she closed the door behind her.
Orihime flushed and said apologetically, "Um...I require some...items from the shop...A-and I d-don't know my way around this area m-much...Could...could you point me in the right...direction...please?" She trailed off and hung her head, still flushing bright as a tomato.
"That's all?!" Karin scoffed. "Geez, why couldn't you just say that straight out?"
"S-Sorry..."
"Quit with the apologisin." Karin said with a sigh. "Alright, let's go. There's a store two blocks away."
"A-Arigato, Karin-san..." Orihime stammered.
"Don't worry about it." Karin smiled and walked to the front door and opened it.
They two women walked out. "Oh, wait; you need some dough, Orihime?" Karin asked suddenly.
"Oh, no! I have some." Orihime replied quickly.
They continued walking for some time and were out of the grounds of the Kurosaki estate when they were joined by Ishida. It seemed his business with Ichigo had been brief; the two rarely sat around exchanging pleasantries if they had no business to discuss.
"Hello, ladies." He said quietly as he came up behind them.
"Wah!" Orihime cried out in surprise, jumping about a foot into the air.
"Haha!" Karin laughed as she watched the maid come back to the ground with a huge blush of embarrassment upon her cheeks. She stopped when Orihime looked like she was going to cry. "Sorry. So, Ishida-kun, what's cookin?" She asked the man with the dark hair.
"Nothing's "cookin", Karin-chan." He said calmly. Karin noticed that he was walking beside Orihime, who was trying to edge away so that she was walking behind the two others. She looked nervous. Karin smirked to herself and racked her brains to see if she could come up with an excuse to leave the two together. At that point, she glanced up and, in the distance, she saw a black horse racing towards the three of them. Atop the horse, she could see distinctly spiky hair. Her heart swelled in excitement and she said, "Hey, um...Ishida-kun, would you mind taking Orihime to the shop near here? I've got a visitor coming."
"Hmm?" Ishida looked to where she was looking and also saw the horse and raised an eyebrow. "Of course, Karin-chan."
Orihime looked flustered. "S-Sorry, you do not have to..." She gulped anxiously. What was Karin doing? Orihime was specifically her maid, she had to stay by Karin, not go to shops with strange men!
"Oh, I don't mind." Ishida said coolly.
"Right, well, see you guys later." Karin said as she ran on ahead. Pretty soon, she was just a blur to the dark haired man and the orange-haired woman.
"Who is that?" Ishida asked.
"A friend of Karin-san's." Orihime said with a smile. She was a little caught up in the moment and forgot her anxiety awhile.
"Yo!" Karin yelled as the horse drew nearer.
Hitsugaya tugged a little on the reins of his horse and came to a stop beside her. "Hey." He smiled down at her.
"Took you long enough." She huffed. She then promptly ignored him as he was about to say something and went to petting the horse. "Hey, boy..." She said as she soothingly stroked Isamu's mane.
Hitsugaya sighed. "I've been out all afternoon, just so you know and I'm tired." He said. "You don't know how many detours I took so that I could arrive here without being noticed."
Karin looked up at him and smiled and held her hand out. "Pull me up." She ordered.
"Eh? What for?" He asked, caught in the middle of yawning.
"I wanna go for a ride, and then we'll go home and get you somethin to eat." She said.
He sighed again and took her hand and pulled her up. She sat with her legs over the same side of the horse and wrapped her arms about his waist. He gave her a lopsided smile and kissed the top of her head. "Where do you wanna go?" He asked softly.
"Anywhere." She answered as she buried her head in his chest.
"Fast, slow or...?"
"Fast." She looked up at him and grinned. He rolled his eyes and tugged on the reins to turn the horse around and then tugged again when he was facing the way he'd come. The horse began to trot and then gallop when Hitsugaya pulled sharply on the reins. "Whoo!" Karin cried out as the wind rushed by her face. This elicited a small smile from Hitsugaya. At a parting in the deserted road, where there was no sign of any other life (Orihime and Ishida and taken a path off the road some time ago), Hitsugaya tugged the leash gently to the left and Isamu moved to the small path on their side.
"Go faster." Karin said.
Hitsugaya sighed and tugged sharply on the horse's leash once more and continued doing so for a good few seconds until the horse was running as fast as he could.
"AWESOME!" Karin cried out gleefully.
They got to the Kurosaki residence half an hour later with a very weary Isamu. Karin was extremely sorry for making the horse go through that. She ran into the house and called a servant to get a bucket of water and then went back out again.
"Sorry, Isamu." She said gravely as she petted his mane. He neighed in response.
"You really do have a need for speed, don't you?" Hitsugaya asked as he jumped off the horse's back and wound his arms about her waist from behind.
"I guess I do." She grinned as she leant against him. "Let's go get this fella some food." She grasped Isamu's reins and started to walk with him towards the gardens, where fresh grass awaited. Hitsugaya let her go and walked besides her, letting her lead his horse. A servant brought the requested bucket of water after a while and the two of them tethered the horse to a tree and let him graze with the bucket nearby and made their way back to the house.
"Ichi-Nii, get your butt down here!" Karin yelled up the stairs. A passing servant had informed her that her brother had gone upstairs after his meeting with Ishida.
The servants, who had all gathered to bow collectively to the Prince, gazed at Karin as if she was out of her mind. What was she thinking, using such language in the presence of the Prince? And they were equally shocked to see that Ojii-sama didn't seem to mind her language in the slightest. In fact, he looked rather amused.
"Hey, can someone please prepare this guy some food? He's real hungry, oh and me too, please." Karin said to the servants as she jerked a thumb in Hitsugaya's direction.
Hitsugaya was immensely amused as the servants all scrambled about in their hurry to carry out 'Little Miss's' request. First they just stood there with their mouths hanging open in astonishment and then the words sank in and they immediately scurried around in a mad dash for the kitchen.
"What's all the ruckus?" Ichigo asked as he suppressed a huge yawn as he came down the stairs. He noticed Hitsugaya and hurried down. "Yo, Prince." He grinned as he bowed before the teen.
"Good afternoon, Kurosaki." Hitsugaya acknowledged with a slight inclination of the head.
"Where d'ya go, Karin?" Ichigo asked his sister, turning a fierce gaze on her.
"Out." She replied simply and grinned, staring back at him. Ichigo's gaze faltered and he sighed in exasperation.
"Don't just take off like that. You worry me." He said as he trudged into the drawing room.
"I can take care of myself; after all, I learnt from you right?" She said as she ushered Hitsugaya in before her and shut the door behind herself.
"That's not the issue here!" He protested as he bid Hitsugaya to sit down and then took a seat himself.
"So?" She challenged. "If I say I can look after myself, I can look after myself."
"Karin, you're only sixteen years old and you shouldn't even be out by yourself let alone with a...guy who you're not married to yet." He said in irritation.
"So? We're gettin married soon!" She protested. She glared at her brother, daring him to say more. He was so infuriating sometimes.
Ichigo was about to reply when Hitsugaya interrupted. "How long are you two going to continue to bicker? We have things to discuss." He said coldly.
"You tell him, Shirou-kun!" Karin said enthusiastically.
"That goes for you too, Karin." He said harshly.
She harrumphed at that and folded her arms across her chest irritably. "Meanie."
"Geez, tryna get into the spirit of bein an old married couple already?" Ichigo asked dryly.
"Shut up!" Hitsugaya and Karin snapped in unison.
"Whoa!" Ichigo said, holding his hands up in surrender with a big grin on his face. "Easy. I assume this is important since Karin isn't the only one you came to see?" He said seriously, turning his attention to the Prince.
"Hn..." Hitsugaya didn't reply for a time. After a few moments, he sighed and said, "I've discussed the wedding with Okaa-sama and, in accordance to the amount of time my father has to live, the wedding is going to be in three weeks." He said, being careful to keep his voice level. His eyes held a faraway look and Karin knew that, at the moment, he was more concerned with his father's health. His father wanted to see him married before he died and the doctors had said that the King had barely a month left, or at the latest, eight weeks. Three weeks was the most reasonable date that they could manage.
Ichigo looked sombre. He knew of the King's condition well and he could also understand the predicament. "I'm fine with that if Karin's fine with it." He said softly.
Karin gazed at Hitsugaya calmly. She reached a hand out and gently grasped his. He turned his head to look at her and she smiled. "I'm absolutely fine with it." She said.
"Thank you..." He muttered.
Ichigo took the opportunity to leave the room and the two sidled closer towards one another. Hitsugaya's arms wound about her waist and she wrapped her arms about his shoulders and rested her head upon his shoulder. "It's okay, Shirou-kun..." She whispered. They continued to embrace for a few seconds and Karin wasn't surprised when she felt a drop of water alight atop her head, and then another, and another...until it built up into a steady stream of tears. All she could do was mutter, "It's okay, Shirou-kun...It's okay..." and run her hand through his thick spiky hair and hold him tight.
"I'm sorry..." He said shakily as he tried, without success, to stem the tears pouring out of his eyes. "This is a bit..."
"Shhh...It's ok." She said gently. She continued to hold onto him. "It's ok...Everyone cries once in a while, Toushirou...Everyone." She raised her head and looked at him intently.
"Even you?" He asked.
She didn't reply for a time, until he figured she wasn't going to reply, but after about half a minute, she said slowly, "Even me..." She reached a hand up and wiped away the wet streaks that lined his cheeks and proceeded to rest her forehead against his. Her breath struck his cheek and he leant into her a little, his lips drawing closer to hers.
"I love you...Karin." He whispered. He was just about to kiss her when the door was flown open and Orihime said quietly, "Karin-san, your meal is..." She trailed off as she realised how close the two were sitting. "G-Gomenasai!" She cried and fled out of the room, shutting the door behind her.
Karin smirked as she stood up. "Come on, food's ready, Ojii-sama." She said as she took his hand and pulled him up.
"Right, Ojou-sama." He said as he wrapped his arms about her waist once more. She flushed, eliciting a grin from him and he bent down a little to place a kiss upon her lips.
A few days later, the marriage date was made official and Karin was instantly surrounded by people when she went to town with Yuzu and Orihime. They had been there to look at dresses (much to Karin's dismay, even though it was going to be her wedding) and other accessories and makeup and other such "girly" stuff.
"So, which one of you is Karin?" They asked first, looking from Yuzu to Karin. At first, they thought Yuzu was their target, until Yuzu diverted the attention away from her and told them that the girl with the darker hair was Karin (Karin had never been so annoyed at her twin as she had been at that moment).
"How did you meet the Prince?"
"Ah, so lucky!"
"How old are you?"
"You have nice hair!"
"Do you get to call the Prince by his first name?"
Karin's eyebrow twitched as she was jostled around in the middle of the throng of people. The questions and comments got more ridiculous by the minute. She was vaguely annoyed and Yuzu and Orihime were nowhere in sight, having been separated from Karin some time ago.
She's been trying to push her way out of the crown for over fifteen minutes when she decided that she'd had enough.
"ALRIGHT, NEXT PERSON TO MAKE A COMMENT GETS A BIT OF THIS!" She yelled at the top of her voice as she brought her fists up.
"Whoa..."
"Is that really someone the Prince wishes to marry?"
"She's so aggressive!"
"And we're only here to wish her good luck!"
"SHUT THE HELL UP!" She screamed. "OUT OF MY WAY, RIGHT NOW OR SOMEBODY'S GONNA GET HURT!"
There was utter silence at that. The people had been stunned at her first little outburst but they didn't think the girl would actually threaten anyone.
"Oh my! This is simply horrid!"
"That is no way for the future Queen of this kingdom to behave!"
"Indeed, what appalling language!"
Karin sighed. She really didn't want to hurt anybody at the moment but if they continued to behave the way they were doing right now, she'd have no choice. She wanted to go home. She decided to employ the only trick that she knew, even though it was probably the oldest in the book.
"Hey, I think I hear something! Let me pass, I think Ojii-sama is coming!" She cried.
"What, where?!"
"OMG, OJII-SAMA!"
"Let me see!"
"I wanna see!"
Heh heh, suckers, Karin thought as she ducked down between the various people as their attention was diverted from her.
"Hey, I don't see the Prince."
"Where is he?"
"We were tricked!"
"That was the oldest trick in the book and we fell for it!"
By the time they turned their attention back to Karin, the said girl was running down a nearby deserted alley at full speed. She hoped Yuzu and Orihime were okay. She was going to make her way home and never get out of there ever again. She ran through the streets unnoticed by all (and keeping to the shadows) and went down another dark alley. When she emerged through the other side, she realised that she was on a road and a carriage was hurtling straight at her. She froze as she stumbled further into the road. The driver's face gazed at her in a stunned manner and he put his foot down, halting the carriage with all his might.
Karin realised with some amusement (clearly unsuitable for the situation) that it was the royal carriage. The crest of the Hitsugaya family (a slim shiny dragon entwined around a pair of crossed twin swords) glinted silver against the black sheen of the background of the coach. The carriage came to an abrupt halt and the door was immediately thrown open.
"Karin, are you okay?!" Hitsugaya cried as he ran up to her.
"I'm fine." She said dazedly, still a little lost at the suddenness of the appearance of the carriage. Though she was excited by Hitsugaya's presence; she hadn't seen him since he'd come to give her the date of the wedding.
"Hey..." He took her hand within his own and put his other hand against her cheek. "Are you sure?"
"'Course I am." She smiled at him as her gaze cleared. "But what are you doing here?"
"Okaa-sama wanted to discuss some things with you so we were on our way to your place." He said. He led her back to the carriage with one arm at her back. He helped her up into the carriage and then climbed up himself, shutting the door after him.
"G-Good afternoon, your Highness." Karin said as she awkwardly bowed in the carriage.
"Karin." The Queen said. "How are you?"
"I am fine, thank you, your Highness. And how are you?"
The Queen chuckled. "I am also fine, thank you. Tell me, though, what were you doing here by yourself, and in such an out-of-the-way area too?"
"Ah, um...Since the wedding has been made official, I, my sister, and Orihime were on our way into town but we were separated by a throng of civilians." Karin said with a blush.
The Queen chuckled again. "Well, you know these townspeople; they are eager."
"H-Hai." Karin said, looking down.
There was silence for a while as nobody spoke. "Well, Karin, we were just on our way to the Kurosaki residence to pay you a visit but since we've come across you here, we'll just finish this now." Chikako said. She reached into the bag at her feet and pulled out a thickly bound book. "Here are some designs that I specifically picked out for you. I want you to choose one. You see, they're all in accordance to the theme that Toushirou and I agreed upon." She smiled widely as she held it out. "Take your time; we don't require it back immediately."
"H-Hai, Arigato." Karin took the book and held it upon her lap uncomfortably. Well, at least one good thing was coming out of this; she didn't have to go out of the house to choose a dress!
"We require your measurements too; I'm sure Orihime can take care of those. Oh, and if you have any of your own suggestions, please do not hesitate to voice them." Chikako said.
"Hai, your Highness." Karin replied, though if they had the details all sorted, there was no way she was going to oppose! Nobody in their right minds directly or indirectly opposed the decision and will of a royal! It was like signing your own death warrant.
It seemed that that was all that the Queen had wanted was to discuss some small things. (They came all the way down here just to tell me that they want me to choose an outfit? Karin thought with incredulity.) They dropped her off home (with Chikako politely refusing Karin's offer of coming inside for refreshments) and Hitsugaya helped Karin off the carriage and walked her to the door.
"I wonder which outfit you'll choose." He mused after they were out of hearing range of the Queen.
"Did you pick any?" Karin asked.
He smiled at that and shook his head. "Okaa-sama chose most of them and they're all rather extravagant." He said. "But I liked one from there."
"Really? Are you gonna wear it?" She asked with a smirk.
He looked at her with one eyebrow raised high. "Very funny."
"I know." She said with a grin. "OK, so tell me which one you chose."
"No." He said.
"Eh, why?"
"Because then you're gonna choose that one to avoid the "complicatedness" of choosing one from among so many," he said blankly, "I'd rather you chose what you wanted to wear. In this wedding, the two of us are getting very little choices to make so make the most of it."
"I don't mind; I'm crap at making choices anyway." She shrugged.
"Karin, I'm serious; I don't want this to be completely forced on you."
"But I wanna know what Shiro-kun liked!"
"...Never mind." He sighed in exasperation and let the matter drop. They were at the door anyway. "Okaa-sama's probably going to send me over next week or so to pick up your various measurements and outfit choice so have it ready." He said as they came to a stop before the door.
"Couldn't she just send a servant or something?" She asked with a frown. It wasn't lost on her that Hitsugaya was the one who always had to come down to their house whenever they had business to discuss.
He shrugged. "Probably wants me to spend some time with you." He said.
They lapsed into silence for a while. Karin looked down and clutched the book tightly to her chest.
"What's wrong?" Hitsugaya asked.
She shook her head and smiled up at him. "It's just...I was wondering whether I'd get to see you that much for the next two and a half weeks."
He smiled sadly at that. "I'm sorry. Probably not; Okaa-sama's gonna keep me busy with perfecting the details and overseeing the decorations and stuff. So don't blame me if I look half-dead on the wedding day."
She smiled at that and then sighed. "I can't believe I'm gettin married!" She exclaimed. "It was all so sudden! I thought I had quite a few years left yet."
He smiled too and took her hand. "Me too, but father's not going to be around forever and he said that, if it's possible, he'd like to be there for when I got married."
"Yeah..."
"Toushirou, do hurry up!" Chikako suddenly called back from the carriage.
"Hai!" Hitsugaya called back. He turned back to Karin and sighed. "Well, I guess I'll have to go now. Take care of yourself, okay?"
"Hai," she said with a military salute, "Sir!"
He rolled his eyes at that and brought her hand up to his lips and gently kissed it. "I love you." He said softly.
"I love you too." She replied. She wanted a kiss at that point, but it'd probably look improper in front of the Queen.
Hitsugaya leant down and quickly pressed his lips against hers and immediately pulled back. "I hope Okaa-sama didn't see that." He said apprehensively. "She'll kick up a hell of a fuss about kissing before the marriage and such." He let go of Karin's hand and turned around and walked away. He turned as soon as he approached the carriage and did his characteristic stoic wave and then climbed in and drove away.
Karin sighed as she opened the door and entered the house. It was going to be a long few weeks if he wasn't going to be around.
Chapter 14 end.