Chapter Twenty Eight: Winter Break
December 24, Wednesday, 3:00 PM
Rukon District
The whole district is starting to be covered in white. The atmosphere is peaceful and chilly. Snow. There is snow everywhere.
Karin rubs her hands together and puffs on her palms in the hope to warm them up a little.
"Cold?"
She looks over her shoulder in time for the bus they got off to restart and continue its journey on the wintery road, leaving the two of them in front of an open gate. Tilting her head, Karin finds Toushirou's expectant stare, his eyes are a bright shade of sea-green in spite of the weather.
"Kinda." She hides her hands in the side pocket of her blue hoodie. "I didn't expect it to snow when we departed from the campus. I should have seen it coming, given the serious drop of temperature this morning."
"It's long due for snow after all," Toushirou points out, "Winter has long started."
Karin hums. She looks around to observe the place. Compared to Seireitei or even to Karakura, there are no many building structures in Rukon District. It isn't as lively either. Yet, there is something in the place's atmosphere that feels warm and welcoming to her.
Toushirou enters the gate and pauses when he realizes that Karin is not following him. "Something wrong?" he asks.
"Oh." Karin's attention goes back to her companion. She shakes her head as she walks to him. "No. It's nothing. I was just thinking how peaceful this place is. Or maybe because it's started snowing that I don't see people outside."
"It's true that this place is not as developed as Seireitei." Toushirou answers, smirking as a thought crosses his mind. "Why, Kaito, you're not used to this kind of silence?"
In response, Karin sticks her tongue at him, fully knowing that Toushirou is trying to tease him again. Amused and expecting the reaction, Toushirou shakes his head. "Child."
They walk side by side until they reach Toushirou's home. Stopping right in front of a porch, Karin regards the two-storey house. "You know," she starts, "I always imagine you'd be living in a traditional Japanese house. I didn't think you live in this particular kind of modern house."
"Momo and I grew up in a traditional house with our parents," Toushirou corrects, "This is our Uncle Jyuushiro's house."
"Does he live alone?" Incredulous, Karin asks.
"He usually has two loyal servants with him, but they also go home during holidays. So yes, he's practically living alone since Momo and I spend most of the whole year in our school dormitory." Toushirou explains, "That's why he wants us to always go home during school breaks."
Karin nods. "I see. It's actually nice though. I mean, this place and its peacefulness."
Just as she says those words, someone jumps and embraces her, shoving her in their breasts. "Hyaa, Kaito-kun, I am so sorry we had to leave you behind earlier to take the bus. Toushirou didn't do anything to you, did he?"
"What peacefulness?" Karin hears Toushirou grumble. "And what do you mean I did something to him, Matsumoto?"
The young woman manages to free herself from the chest that was trying to suffocate her. Smiling awkwardly, she greets the woman who so enthusiastically welcomed her. "Hi to you too, Rangiku-san. And it's alright. I understand that all of us won't fit in Ichimaru-sensei's car so we had to take a separate bus. I am already grateful that you brought our things with you so we didn't have anything heavy to carry with us."
"Yes, yes." Rangiku grabs her hand and pulls her to go inside. "Come. We've already put your things in your room. Momo-chan is in the kitchen, preparing some snacks. I'm sure you're tired from the trip."
"I didn't know that you're living with your cousins in the same house, Rangiku-san," Karin comments as she lets herself be dragged by the older woman. Peeking over her shoulder, she sees Toushirou following behind them.
"Eh, no. I am staying here for a few days but I'll go home to my parents' house before New Year and I'll also visit Gin's family," Rangiku replies. Rounding a corner to enter the living room, the older woman announces, "Our lovely visitor is here."
An older man is waiting for them in the room, comfortably sitting in a sofa, a cup of tea in his hand. His hair is as white as Toushirou's, Karin notes. As he acknowledges their presence, he places the cup down on the coffee table, smiling kindly at Karin as he speaks his greeting, "Ah, hello, you must be Kaito-kun. I'm Ukitake Jyuushiro, these kids uncle."
"Shiba Kaito." Karin bows her head in return. "I'm sorry for intruding."
"It's no problem," the man assures her just as Karin lifts her head, "I've heard a lot of things about you, but-"
Before Karin can stop herself, she cuts in, grinning, "But not from Toushirou, right?"
Her comment earns a laugh from Jyuushiro. "My nephew surely got one smart friend here, didn't he?"
The nephew in question appears behind Karin and scoffs. "What part of him is smart, I am not sure." He glances down at Karin when the woman looks back to glare at him. In return, he flashes her a sly grin.
Upon seeing his nephew, Jyuushiro's kind smile returns. "Welcome home, Toushirou."
"Yeah," Toushirou answers softly, "I'm home."
7:00 PM
"I have a bad news for you, Kaito-kun," Jyuushiro announces while they are having a dinner. He looks at Karin apologetically.
Karin and Toushirou turn to him, confused, their looks urging the older man continue what he is saying. On the other hand, Rangiku and Momo look at each other with suspicious glints on their eyes, as if sharing an amusing secret.
"I am afraid Toushirou's notice that he would bring a friend home was too sudden that we weren't able to prepare a separate room for you," Jyuushiro continues, "When I got his call only a few days ago, the two other people staying with me in this house had already went back to their hometown and I couldn't ask anyone to clean the other vacant room. It hasn't been opened for a while after all so it needs some serious cleaning before it can be used. "
"We can clean it tomorrow, now that we're all here," Momo joins in, "but for tonight… we have to ask Toushirou-kun to temporarily share his room with you."
"Or you can stay with me." Rangiku grins. "Maybe our Toushirou doesn't want be bothered after all."
Knowing exactly what his cousin is trying to pull, Toushirou rolls his eyes. "As if I am going to let him stay with the likes of you." He looks at Karin who is busy watching their interaction. "You're fine sharing my room?"
Karin blinks, and then smiles sheepishly. "It's perfectly fine. I should be the one to apologize for imposing too much."
"Eh, what are you saying, Kaito-san? You're not imposing on us. We are happy to have you this holidays," Momo tells her, "So it's fine, you can tell us if you don't want to share a room with Toushirou-kun."
Karin snickers as she notices that Toushirou is starting to get irritated. Grinning at Momo, she says, "We've been roommates for a while now, Hinamori-san, so I don't see any problem with us sharing a room here too."
9:00 PM
It isn't until they are inside the said room that they realize that there is in fact a problem. Unlike in their shared dormitory room, there is only one bed in Toushirou's room. They should have thought about it earlier but they were too tired to think about anything else other than having some rest after the long travel from Seireitei to Rukon District. No wonder Rangiku looked so amused when they both easily agreed. She must have known they would face this awkward situation once they catch on to their mistake. Then again, it is not like they have a choice even if they realized it sooner. They have to share the room either way.
At least, there is a small relief for them, and that is the sofa in the corner that Toushirou usually uses as his reading area when he is at home. Tonight, it has to serve another purpose.
"You can take the bed, Kaito. The sofa will suffice for me." Toushirou is the first to give his suggestion, sounding like he is not having a room for further discussion. He picks up a book in one of the shelves near his bed as he pretends oblivious to the nonconcurring look that his roommate is giving him.
He should have known that the Kurosaki woman will not take up his offer without starting a debate. Just as he walks to the sofa, he hears her argument.
"No, Toushirou. You take the bed. I'll have the sofa. It's your room after all so it's only fair." She moves from the door where she has been standing and goes straight to the sofa, flopping into it before Toushirou can move to have it claimed. She plants herself in the furniture stubbornly, as if only she can belong there and no one can separate her from it. "See? I fit here just right. I'm sure it's more comfortable for me than you. I'm smaller after all."
Miffed, Toushirou scowls down at Karin. "Oh, now it's fine to talk about your height because it's convenient for your argument?" He has no time to spoil this hardheaded woman. Better yet, spoiling her doesn't include letting her take the sofa when there is a bed wherein she can rest more comfortably. She thinks she won another battle; he's more than willing to prove her wrong. "I am telling you, get up from there, Kaito," Toushirou grunts.
"No," Karin answers firmly. She huffs before rolling to her side, turning away from Toushirou as if to say the talk is over. She faces the sofa back not willing to listen to the man anymore.
There are cases where Toushirou can yield to her whims and there are cases where he can't. This one is the latter. "Kaito." The name comes out from his mouth as a warning.
For the third time since they entered the room, Karin says, "No." This time, it's followed by a challenge. "Make me."
Oh, I will. Believe me, Karin, I will. Toushirou thinks as he lays the book in his hand on the small table beside the sofa. He rolls up his sleeves and turns to Karin, making sure not to alert her on what he's up to. It is to his advantage that the woman is purposely ignoring him so when he bends down and touches her shoulder, there is no response from her. Promptly, he scoops her from the sofa and only when he has her gathered in his arms does she finally react.
"Whoa, what do you think you're doing, Toushirou?" Karin demands, but instinctively wraps an arm on Toushirou's shoulder to steady herself.
"What do you think?" Toushirou asks back, looking down with a smirk at the woman in his arms.
His smirk grows as he sees Karin's eyes glint in annoyance. She must be tempted to trash at him right now but she is smart enough to know that it's the worst thing to do that in this house where Rangiku's and Momo's rooms are only a few meters away from them. Pretty sure neither of them wants to feed those women any wrong idea.
Breaking eye contact with her, Toushirou crosses to where his bed is. "I am moving you to bed," he answers Karin's question rather belatedly.
"Bring me down, Toushirou," Karin hisses.
"No." It is Toushirou's turn to be resolute on his refusal. When he steals another glance at Karin, he discovers a blush forming on her cheeks. It's not clear if it's because of irritation or embarrassment. Toushirou is betting it's a combination of both but more of the latter.
He reaches the side of the bed and is surprised that Karin did not put a real fight while she's in his arms.
That was easy.
Or so he thought.
Before he can put her down, Karin grabs his collar and forcefully pulls him, making them both stumble. Karin's back hits the bed first, Toushirou following on top of her. Luckily, he is quick to brace himself with his hands.
Why do we always fall together? Toushirou muses. And every single time, it's because of her. He pauses at the thought. He's pretty sure that's not right. Wasn't there a time when he made them stumble together? Something clicks on his memory as it wanders back to the night of their victory party where he got drunk. That time, didn't something like this also happen? The same position – her lying on her back, beneath him. The same situation – him staring down at her madly blushing face. And the same thought of how cute she is and he wants to kiss her now.
"M-move away, Toushirou."
"What?" He snaps out of his reverie, blinks when he realizes that Karin has given him an order. More attentive now, he asks, "And why will I listen to you? Won't you just run back to the sofa if I get off of this position?"
With crystal clear frustration on her eyes, they meet his own. "So what? Do you plan to trap me like this forever?"
Toushirou actually considers the idea for a moment, but "Forever is too much." He grins. "But I am not moving an inch until you promise me you're taking the bed instead of the sofa."
Karin bites her lower lip, looking like she's contemplating. Following that small action, Toushirou's gaze drags down to her lips. Stop doing that. It's making me want to bite it myself. He groans internally at his own inappropriate thought. He closes his eyes and inhales, exhales. Control yourself, stupid.
Lucky for him, Karin seems to have an internal battle of her own to notice his. After a while, she reveals what she's thinking. "How about we both take the bed?" Despite her indignant scowl, she failed to keep the blush from spreading all over her face. She's red up to her ears and neck now. "I mean, your bed looks big enough to accommodate both of us."
"Oh?" Toushirou raises a brow, more on instinct than an actual reaction. He may not let it show, but even he's taken aback by Karin's suggestion.
"We are both guys after all." Karin sputters. "I don't see any problem about it."
Right, they are both guys. Except she isn't.
And the way she continues to speak in gibberish, possibly to convince Toushirou (and herself) that her idea makes a lot of sense, though her words themselves are not making any sense, it is obvious that even she is fully aware of the implication of her suggestion. In the end, Toushirou knows that neither of them will relent so it is in fact best to agree that they both take the bed.
Unable to listen to Karin's unintelligible rambling anymore, he gets off of her. Effectively, it stops her. Toushirou lands softly on the floor. Studying Karin who's still lying on bed and staring blankly at the ceiling, he decides it's best to tease her again. "Seriously, Kaito, say it earlier if you just want to sleep beside me. We could have avoided all that argument. It was tiring."
Karin bolts up and grabs a pillow from the bed, throwing it at Toushirou's face. "Who wants to sleep beside you?"
Toushirou snickers. "I need to shower," he declares and immediately turns away. "I don't feel like it's winter at all."
Because in reality, he feels his face getting hot too. In reality, he is in desperate need to cool down. So he will do just that.
10:15 PM
A few minutes ago, she was still busy arguing with her phone, cursing at the enemies that won't stop chasing her. Ah, you're annoying! Take this! Hell, yeah! Die! That's right, die!
The next moment, everything is quiet. Toushirou looks up from the book he's reading as he hears soft snoring to his side. He can't help but smile, seeing Karin fast asleep, her phone neglected on her stomach. Must be tired from the trip. It reminds him of the first day they became dorm roommates and he was awoken by her loud snoring in the morning. Perhaps her snores have become less loud since then or perhaps he's gotten so used to it that it doesn't bother him anymore.
He picks up her phone and, together with his book, places it safely on the bedside table. Turning back to the other side, he watches Karin adoringly. "Can't you be more careful?" he asks quietly, though confident it's nowhere near enough to wake her up. He's been living with her for months to know how much of a heavy sleeper she is. "You're so defenseless, right now, it's easy to take advantage of you if I want to."
It makes him stop as he is reminded once again of his blurry memories of the drunken night. He is confused; he can't recall what exactly happened then but there is one thing that has been bothering him since earlier. "That night, did I…" His brows knit, as he desperately racks his brain for any clear picture of that night's event but can't find anything except the ones that took place before he got drunk. "Did I kiss you?" If there is something that he managed to remember, it's the strong feeling of wanting to kiss Karin. The question is, did he actually do it?
Toushirou catches his face with his hand. God, let it not be true. But if it is, if he indeed kissed Karin – and there is a good chance he did, what with him being under the influence of alcohol and couldn't distinguish between what's stupid and what's not – then the bruise on his face that time now makes a lot of sense. Karin must have been crept out. No wonder she was desperately avoiding him the next day.
Stupid. You're the biggest idiot. That punch was less than what you deserved. No amount of mental beating is enough to describe how frustrated and upset he is with himself. "I want to punch myself."
It takes a while for him to be satisfied with his self-criticism. Once he's done, he turns back to the sleeping Karin, his expression becoming softer. He brushes some of the hair that fell down in front of her face and tucks them behind her ear. "You too, you shouldn't be so careless," he whispers, his eyes and voice full of endearment. From his sitting position, he lies in bed and rolls to side to face Karin. "Don't easily let your guard down around anyone. Even if it's me. Sometimes, I think you're forgetting that you're still a girl. And I am still a guy. Even I am not sure if I can have that enough control around the person I love." He moves closer and lifts his upper body to press a kiss on Karin's forehead. Leaning away, he looks one more time at the woman he adores. "Good night, Karin."
AN: I hope everyone is doing alright. Always keep safe.