Disclaimer: I do not own any Bleach characters. The toothfairy has not granted my wish yet.
Summary: On the day of the birth of Karin & Hitsugaya's child, news arrives that he's gone missing on a mission to Hueco Mundo when his zanpaktou and a letter are retrieved from Hueco Mundo. Karin though does not believe as such along with her family, but fights the rumours of Soul Society about Hitsugaya being considered a criminal and a traitor, and must face the fact that she would be raising their only child alone.
The Bride Of Silence
+--+
+Righteous Suicide +
"Aw…Taichou don't be so mean." Matsumoto faked a hurt toned voice, which somewhat displayed her curiosity. She had to know what the hell had happen, she knew despite of being known to lack some skills of noticing behaviour there was definitely something going on with her captain.
The beautiful vice-captain had known for a while about her captain being in love with a certain person, said certain person though didn't say a single thing--that was getting her rather aggravated. She 'humph' at her captain and turned to leave, but before being allowed to leave he stopped her.
"You want to know so badly?" He asked, his tone no different then any other times that she had known him. He was like her little brother, but also someone who Matsumoto held a great respect for.
"Well, that is an awfully dumb question Taichou." She mocked him, attempting to sound like him--except that no one could actually imitate him at all. "Well, are you going to tell me or do I have to go and tell Ichigo to tell me."
Hitsugaya wasn't going to have any of that, to allow his future brother-in-law or that loud mouthed future father-in-law telling her--quickly reminding himself that he needed to have a few words with that man. He scratched his already messy mop of white hair, trying hard to find words.
"I asked her, happy?" He muttered, turning away from her and looked out the window. It was so unbelievably uncomfortable talking about it, even though he was ecstatic about having the guts to make such bold move.
Matsumoto's shriek could be heard throughout the entire division, and quite possibly the entire Seireitei. He opened and closed his mouth, mimicking a yawning as he tried to pop his eardrums--the buzzing though wasn't very comfortable at all.
"You are indeed growing up Taichou! So, what did lovely Karin-chan say?" Her sparkly blue eyes looked into his teal ones, though he averted his gaze quickly away from those shiny eyes. He was rather afraid to tell her the truth, even as he tried to avoid playing it on his head.
"She--didn't." He muttered, striding over to his table and took a seat. Trying his best to look like he was preoccupied with paperwork, except that the very perceptive shinigami wasn't about to let that be blown away into the air.
"Oh--you are a joker Taichou." Matsumoto broke into a fit of laughter, drying the tears coming out of her eyes as she grabbed her stomach to stop it from hurting. After what seemed like an eternity, Hitsugaya was noticing that it wasn't funny at all. Why hadn't she answered? Both of them were shinigamis, neither breaking rules at all…so why the answer?
That disturbed him a little, not knowing what she was actually thinking or what could possibly run in her head. Kurosaki Karin was a very confusing woman, and he was in need to talk to her clearly about the proposing subject--
"Yes, I accept!" It seemed as though he was calling her with thoughts, which was rather strange. He scowled, refusing to look up from his paper.
"Karin-chan! This is so great. Don't you think so Taichou. I am so happy for you, when are you going to start planning?" Matsumoto was going a little over with the whole subject, but Karin noticed that Hitsugaya wasn't responding, that made her frown.
"Oi, I answered to your damn question. Are you going to sit there and fucking ignore me like a complete idiot?" Karin was fuming, and she strode to his side. Without even noticing, he felt her lips crash against his, but what bother him was the fact that Matsumoto was still there.
"Get out!" He shouted, as she jumped in surprised and quickly disappeared.
+--+
The world stopped moving, time was no longer present somehow as the air felt denser, Karin's lungs were compressing tightly unable to breath.
Heart was sinking lower, lower--the pendulum was easing its speed and striking upon the shaking feeling. The thoughts no longer seemed to be crossing to her, only the mental images of his dead body. What would she do? His son--with that the tears began to fall upon the ground as her body shook.
The air coming into her lungs was hard, like everything was weighing down--slowly those tears turned into an uncontrollable sob as she fell backwards along with Tatsuya. Renji caught her in time, his arms balancing her and the white haired child as he began to cry.
"Karin…" Ichigo's voice was distant, sadness dripping all over the tone of his voice. Rukia stared at her husband, unable to do anything to comfort him because of the situation.
"Kazuki, take Amaya." She ordered, not wanting for them to see this sight at all. It wouldn't do good for their early mental state.
"But mum--" Rukia shook her head as Amaya was about to complain. "Please, just take her Kazuki!" Rukia's voice was firm, but the orange haired boy knew that it wasn't a good time to argue back.
"Hai, come on!" Kazuki grabbed her sister, and disappeared in thin air.
"Oh God, oh God…" Karin repeated, tears cascading down her pale face. Ichigo bent down to look at her, slowly taking the child away from her and handing him to his wife.
"Karin, I am so sorry." He said, his amber eyes looking as though he was so disappointed with everything. The dark haired girl threw her arms at him, and began to cry on his shoulder--wanting and gripping on his haori to release the sadness inside of her.
Rukia began to cry, the tears falling shamelessly into the ground and wetting her face. She cooed at the baby, but it was still hard to stand there and give the support that Karin needed. It was like every little flame of hope had suddenly died, knowing that Hitsugaya-taichou might died scared her as well.
The thoughts of knowing that her nephew wouldn't have a father was far worse, like thinking that her own children wouldn't have Ichigo around to teach them about life and the shinigami ways of living--it was scary. Thinking of the end of the world was a very cryptic thought, knowing that Ichigo wouldn't be part of her life seemed a hell ready to be forming on the normal life she had acquired so suddenly. She knew. Rukia knew it wouldn't be good at all, therefore losing her composure she let out a sob and then ran off.
Renji stared at his childhood friend disappear, the despairing feeling was creeping into him slowly as well. The chills that ran up and down his spine, how come he was affected to so much? That alone scared him, scared him to death to know that if something like that happen to his wife--no that thought was far too ghastly to even be thinking about.
So much pain, sorrow--all those awfully bad discomforting feelings were far too much to handle. Renji fled the scene as well, trying hard not to picture that situation with Tatsuki in it. Tears were burning on his eyes, it was impossible to know how one would feel in that situation. Running--running from the feeling wouldn't be sufficient enough to really get away from that pain crushing one's heart.
+--+
"Unohana-taichou?" Kotetsu Isane gasped a little, not wanting to believe the current situation at all.
"I'm sorry Isane, but I am afraid that it is all on his own now." The motherly shinigami added, while looking at the semi-conscious captain on the bed. "The fight for living is that greater then a war itself, knowing that war would end in an amicably agreement. Life doesn't work like that, knowing that you only have two choices; death or continuing living."
The light haired coloured vice-captain nodded at that knowing well that it was mostly true, but why would anyone do something as horrid as this? Torturing a captain, well a young captain nonetheless and leaving him in a terrible state between life and dead. Anyone would be crazy enough to be in a situation like that, but more importantly; he had a family to care for.
"Let it not bother you Isane. The cycle of living in the real world is as equal as here. Our demise comes at the moment in which our time is over." The captain expressed turning to leave the room. "We'll allow Kurosaki-san to see him if anything were to happen over night."
"H-hai!" Isane stuttered, fighting the tears back as she followed her captain out of the room and off to another case to find.
Hitsugaya's eyes were closed, but his perceptive senses were still active as he felt the pain in his abdomen travel up and down. The pain was worse then ever, but what hurt was knowing that Karin wasn't around at all.
"Promise not to leave me again?" Her voice was soft, clear even as she gripped his hand tightly after she had won the championship for the soccer team.
"Why would I do something like that?" His answer was a question, the bad habit that Karin hated so badly about him every time they talked about something.
"Well maybe because we are dating, and the fact that you have your reasons to come back." Her tone of voice was playful as she ran her hand over his white hair, allowing the softness to make her feel sheepish and childish in a way.
Hitsugaya cocked his head to the side slightly while thinking about it, not that there was much to think about really. Karin was there smiling up at him and holding her close, why was it hard to believe that she was actually there running her long thin fingers through his messy hair.
"You know I can't keep a promise like that." He expressed, tugging a piece of her hair back behind her ear. The piercing in her ears never shocked him at all as the little dragon earring on her left ear made him smile. "I promise. I'll protect you while you are with me, swear to not hurt your feelings--I can't believe you are making me say all these rubbish like this."
Karin smiled, snaking her arm around his neck and pulling him down for a kiss. "That's because--to hell with it just kiss me." He smirked a little, without noticing that everyone in her team was actually watching this.
He had promised to protect her, but the weakness that he wasn't used to was there so present as he hung by a thread with life. It was thin, the light that appeared in front of him was telling him that it was time to actually die and be reborn in the living world again--what kind of theory was that? No, Karin needed him.
"Toshiro!" Her voice came to him, those sweet lips of hers brushed against him. "Please…please don't leave me. I can't do this without you. Come back to me like you promised! Promising you would never leave me alone." The salty tears were imploring him to wake up, to simply stand up and say that he was alright. Brushing his lips against hers to tell her that everything was going to be alright--but that wasn't the case at all.
"K-Ka-rin." His voice was low, it hurt Karin to hear that type of voice because it indicating defeat from him.
"Toshiro, please." She pleaded, pressing her lips against his as the tears fell onto his pale skin. "Don't leave me, please. Don't do it for me, do it for Tatsuya." Her face fell to his chest, wanting to feel and hear that heart beating rapidly just as it often did. Now, it seemed like a slow beating of a clock ticking minutes away, those minutes of life he was holding onto dearly.
"I--I am--glad--t-to…" He swallowed hard, the lump on his throat growing tighter along with the air that was coming in slow rushes. "Hear that--Tatsuya…" His lips were dried.
Karin stared at him, the flickering on his eyes was vanishing slowly as the glistening tears began to appear on those ocean green eyes she could stare at forever. Sobbing again, she buried her head on his chest.
"I'm…sorry." His voice was becoming softer, fainter as she gripped his hand tightly trying to reach for the warmth that was always comforting.
"No, please!"
+--+
Rukia curled into a ball after she dropped Tatsuya off with Ukitake-taichou, it was hard to contain herself from breaking down at that sight with Karin back at the hill. She cried, the tears came down like a bursting dam as slowly her heart was crumbling. She wouldn't know what it would feel like knowing to lose someone you loved, it only hurt to know that Karin gave up a lot in order to get the life she held onto now, but why was it so difficult?
Ichigo appeared, holding onto Tatsuya as he stared down at his petite wife crying her soul away. He grimaced at the sight while his nephew tugged on his orange locks, life couldn't get any more complicated then this? Sighing, he sat next to her while Tatsuya was put on the futon on the floor along with some toys.
"Rukia?" He stretched out his hand to touch her shoulder, carefully not wanting to push her at all because of her current state.
"Ichigo." She turned over and threw her arms at him. Holding onto him like life depended on him because that's how it felt like at the moment for her. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have left like that."
His amber eyes stared out the shoji slides, the late spring air didn't smell warm like it would usually smell like at all. Somehow there was an undertone to it, like death would suddenly parade in Soul Society. The irony to his thought failed to come, as though he hadn't known death at all since he gave himself to it willingly. Was it different when knowing that you had fought for so long to stay alive?
"Its fine Rukia. I couldn't say anything to her either knowing well that whatever I said wouldn't make a difference at all." He expressed, running his fingers on her dark hair. "I couldn't do anything either, so feeling helpless is the only thing that I have left in me."
"I know, it just irks me knowing that we can't do anything about it." Rukia snuggled closer to him, drying her eyes with her hand and wrapping her arms around his waist. "Ichigo, don't ever leave me." He scowled, knowing that the way she usually said things they were never like that at all.
"I won't leave you midget." He smirked, hoping that she would jump up and beat the shit out of him, often done when she was called that.
Rukia growled and pinched him in the side, earning a groan from the orange haired male by her side. It was better to have light-hearted moments instead of the depressive ones, it was better to think of a happier life. And she would never thought to have actually lead a life along with a great husband, and two magnificent children.
"I love you." She kissed him as she ran her hand in those orange locks that she loved so much. It would be hard to think of a life without him. Since the first day in which they met, Rukia knew that her world would change because of that teenage boy.
His will to protect people astound her, the way he fought to save her was a marvelling thought, and when he took her in his arms and told her to never leave him--that was enough to know that he would always be there for her. Being away from Ichigo was enough hell for her, knowing he wasn't there smiling or saying really senseless things--those were the reasons why she was always aware of her feelings for him.
The time in which he shared a true smile with her, when he open up about his mother, talking about the things in life that seemed to be slipping away slowly. Those moments were truthfully things that she could never regret because it meant everything in the world, knowing that she was able to talk to someone about painful things as well.
Ichigo was a protector, a caretaker, a healer--everything that she could think because he was special despite his young appearance. She could never get enough of him at all.
"I love you as well." He kissed her softly.
+--+
"Renji, what are you doing?" Tatsuki looked at her husband wide eyed, the expression on his face wasn't the one she was used to. Even though they'd only been married for a short time, she felt like she had known the red headed man for a long time now.
"I--it's Karin." He said, pulling her into his arms and hugging her as tightly as he could without crushing her stomach.
"Renji, I'm sorry." She pulled away from him just enough to look at him. "You are a big boy, come on. You are a tough guy, don't tell me that you think that Hitsugaya-taichou is going to give up that easily?" A smirk played on her face as her thin fingers traced his jaw line, sending chills down his spine.
"Tatsuki, its not that." He pulled away from her and stared out the window of the room. "Somehow it scares me to know that something like that might happen to you. What would I do if I lost you? Thinking about it just drives me completely crazy, and it just makes me charge into Hueco Mundo and kick their fucking asses because--I don't even know what the hell I am saying!" He punched the wall, anger building like anticipation.
The pregnant shinigami stood there, trying her best to think of something to say to comfort his troubled feelings. He was trembling with rage, those eyes of his turned darker--there was something more scary to his demeanour that was a little difficult to comprehend.
She wrapped her arms around him again, trying hard to prevent him from going crazy with fighting as he often did. Renji sighed deeply, pulling her into his arms again and kissing her lips. That sweet taste always managed to pull him from his anger and suddenly to his happiness, the happy feeling always went up to him as he would run his hand on her stomach.
"I'm sorry for all the trouble you are going through." She whispered as a tiny smile. "He kicks a lot, sometimes I wonder if he'll be restless like you." Renji's eyes widened.
"Our baby is a he?" He was very glad, but at the same time he wanted a little girl first.
"Of course, Unohana-taichou told me today when I went to see her." Tatsuki sat on the bed and leaned back. "I am so tired from today, I just hope that things turn out better then I expect them to be."
Renji sat besides her pulling her into his lap to be able to rub her back, knowing that the weight of the baby was doing that to her. It was still completely shocking that soon he'll be a father, proudly holding onto a baby boy and being able to show off his parenting skills.
"Shall we start planning for names then?" Renji smiled at Tatsuki, who in return punched him lightly in his arm.
"I don't know, there's only two months left though." She laughed.
Tatsuki couldn't be any more in love with the red headed man, it was so strange how she was attracted to that bad boy exterior, but she knew that he was a softy. It was adorable seeing him get angry over little things, make things a little over dramatic when they didn't need to really. Overall, she had thought she would hate dying in the first place and coming here, but Abarai Renji managed to change her world entirely.
Love had been like a blasphemy in her world, everything about it made her think ill about humanity itself. She watched Inoue Orihime stare at Ichigo during their high school years, drooling over him as if there was nothing in the world left. The tough shinigami had disliked it a bit, annoyed to the point in which sometimes she just sat there listening to her rant about her crush endlessly.
In the end, Orihime had been captured by some guy named Aizen, and then she had run off with an Espada during the war--or so the story was. Tatsuki felt betrayed at the fact that she had disappeared like that, knowing that she was always there to lend her a hand just in case she would be in trouble. No, Orihime was now an enemy in her book after disappearing leaving everyone behind to care for themselves. Despite the fact that she hadn't known much back then, Tatsuki was glad to not have known really much since it was still complicated.
Renji was there, watching out for her and then suddenly disappearing without saying much, and then appearing in front of her after entering Soul Society as a dead soul. That red flaming hair, those trivial tattoos she found hard to understand--everything about him was wild and unlike her. She watched him show his 'bankai' that awesome strength could match hers, in defeat after a sparring session she knew that there was something special about him.
+--+
"Karin!" Yuzu entered the 4th division panting. "Where is she?"
"Inside with Hitsugaya-taichou." Hisagi replied, pointing at the large door at the end of the empty hall. "I--I don't think it looks that great."
Yuzu sank on the chair besides him, her head on her hands because of everything that was spinning out of control. The void growing darker, deeper, heavier…everything was coming to an abrupt stop suddenly to change things dramatically. A tear escaped her eyes, it was impossible to see her twin sister be in pain and a sad expression upon her face.
"Why do I feel like all of us are helpless?" She asked, the tears rolling down her cheeks as she looked up at the dark haired shinigami. He didn't know why that feeling existed in everyone today, but wasn't everyone supposed to stay strong in order not to show weaknesses? It was like a circle--no end to it.
"Somehow I can't answer that question." He expressed, leaning back against the chair as his head hit the wall. "I feel like a fucking useless ass."
"Please don't curse like that." Yuzu looked at him, wishing and hoping that he would always stay there by her side despite of the short time they had been together. He was rough and was a believer in strength, Yuzu couldn't really understand much of that perspective because she had been a gentle person.
On the short five year span, Yuzu was still unable to grasp the idea as to why she could easily kill a hollow or simply hurt someone. Even her brother had mentioned how much she had changed, and then falling for his vice-captain certainly made it uncomfortable to talk about. She could not help being attracted to him, even if he looked like some thug from the outside with that tattoo on his face and the three scars on the other side of his face. He was actually pretty well spoken, soft and very caring about people's opinions or suggestions about--anything.
At first, she only walked in and out of the 9th squad's office without even paying the slightest attention to him, it was strictly work and nothing more when she set foot there to see her brother--well she called him Kurosaki-taichou for respect. The 13th squad's captain didn't complain at all about her usual visits there, well he prolonged them most of the time because he really couldn't do much and her help was a lot.
"Sorry." Hisagi looked down at the girl on the floor.
"Ah, no it was my fault." Yuzu smiled and stood up quickly, without needing his help on doing so. She dusted her robes and picked up the book she was carrying. "Is Kurosaki-taichou around? I was hoping to meet with him, to return this book to him in behalf of Ukitake-taichou."
He shook his head in a 'no' fashion, and then informing her that he was no where around at the moment due to a meeting with the head captain.
The dark haired shinigami stared at the slender woman in front of him, her beauty radiated like no other. Her gold like hair was shinning, her eyes looking right at him with a very hidden expression behind them, but she seemed a little different then most women he met.
"I-I should go." He turned to leave, feeling the heat rise to his face as his feet dragged him away from her.
Their meetings were odd like that, she didn't say anything because there wasn't much to think over the male at all; simply that he was the vice-captain under her brother. He was manly and extremely into himself a little bit, showing off to the women on his own division when she first seen him. Later, he changed and became more reserved--completely ignoring all the girls that swooned over him.
Yuzu couldn't have known that she would fall in love with that man, the one and only who seemed to understand her and the gentle manner in which she often put herself in. The first time he had confessed his love it was like everything just fell on top of her, it was awkward and strange knowing that a lot of shinigami females would be angry about it. That alone wasn't enough to stop her from allowing herself to become his one and only girl.
"I do hope that he doesn't--"
"Make way, make way!" Five shinigamis from the 4th squad sprinted down the hall, and shouting 'make way' repeatedly as they rushed inside the doors to the room in which Hitsugaya was at.
"What's going?" Hisagi stood up abruptly, and stopped the other shinigamis that followed along with Unohana-taichou and Kotetsu-fukutaichou.
"Hisagi-fukutaichou, Kurosaki-san. I would suggest for you to be ready for whatever comes next." Unohana explained, as she gave orders to those shinigami that were following her. "Please go get Kurosaki Ichigo-taichou, Kurosaki Rukia-fukutaichou, and the rest of the Kurosaki family."
"W-what do you mean?" Yuzu asked in a frightening tone, her hands were shaking with fear.
"I am afraid that things aren't going to go well tonight. There's so much that my division can do in this type of situation." She spoke softly, and then turned to leave. "Hisagi-fukutaichou please be at your ready to send the news to Yamamoto-soutaichou."
Hisagi's eyes widened--that could obviously not be true by the look on her face. He turned to look at Yuzu, who looked like as if everything in the world was ending right in front of her, it would seem that way though because it was her sister who was going to suffer.
"Karin-chan!" She gasped, the tears falling down her face. He embraced her, holding onto her as she sobbed on his chest. He couldn't think, speak, or anything that would make her feel better--but what about Karin though?
+--+
The air from her lungs escaped, everything was happening like a blur as she felt herself being pulled away from him. The screams coming out of her mouth seemed to sound silent on her ears, the tears streaming down her face could only depict what this frightening feeling was creeping into her chest.
He laid there, motionless as his heart had stopped beating and he looked peaceful. Karin screamed as she no longer could feel his heart beating under her hand, it was too soon. He was there, he had been informed about his son, the wedding--all of those future plans he had heard. Why?
Why did suddenly the dream end like that? So tragic, so full of void and agony, hardships only seemed to be predicted on that distant future. Karin hated it, she wanted to die right there along with him to go and be reborn again. No matter how many times it would take to die, she only wanted to be with him.
"Toshiro!" She screamed again as the anger and fear were pulsating in her veins. Her heart was beating erratically, pounding her chest so hard that it was hard to speak or breath.
He couldn't die. Hitsugaya had promised not to go and get killed when he first fought on the war, he had promised to stay with her for the rest of their living days, they had a child--why was it difficult to not keep a promise?
Whatever was being said in the room it was mute, only the bone crushing pain was present inside of Karin's chest. Her cries weren't enough, every single minute ticked away without care, without stopping at all--after all time couldn't be possibly stopped or changed.
Ichigo rushed inside the private quarters, the mess that was there seemed completely out of sorts. Rukia followed behind along with their children, everyone was not understanding everything that was happening. It was all too fast.
"What the hell is going on?" Ichigo's voice boomed over the silence, ever ounce of anticipation dripping from his voice.
"Taichou, don't you feel it?" Hisagi seemed the only one with the clear mind, even though it seemed to slowly be clouding him.
The orange haired captain's amber eyes widened, the reiatsu signal was no longer there--that couldn't be true at all.
"T-Toshiro?" He couldn't speak, he couldn't react at all…
Chapter five everyone, thanks for sticking around since the beginning. Thanks to kwisy, ChevalierAirumel, Sonata Ann, Mello's-Dark-Chocolate, The Dragon of the Hill and Tsukihime nee for reviewing and the awesome comments. Also, Toushi-chan for favouring as well as kwisy, who also alerted, and kirida.ann for alerting as well. If I forgot anyone, I do apologize greatly but everyone is great for supporting this story. Anyways, I reviewed last chapter and I saw a lot of mistakes--especially on my author's note. I revealed something that was entirely different from my original idea, so hopefully I didn't mislead you to think that Hitsugaya was actually going to be arrested. Though it was on my original idea, but I changed it. Anywyas--this chapter was a bit dark with the emotional scenes and please do not hate me for what I am doing to Hitsugaya, he's actually a favourite of mine and I would not put his character in this mess. Sighs, this chapter was really hard to write because of all the emotional things here, and it was hard to pin point an exact emotion since I feel that everyone feels pain differently, even though it is the same feeling--even this is hard to explain!
I'll extend my many thanks to Sonata Ann for helping me with the zanpaktou deal, but I still need more ideas because it is harder for me to work on them on my own. I have school and all these other crap to deal with, so I don't actually have time to sit down and do a bunch of research for this. I have ideas on my own, I have names and such written down--the only problem is that I can't translate them to Japanese because I know that I have to put words together and all of that. So once I get them put on romaji, please do not complain that is done wrong--I'll be using websites that help me with the translations. I should take Japanese or something--anyways besides the point. I think I am going to start doing only updates on Thursdays, though I do not promise that entirely. Well, what will happen next chapter? I have no clue because the plot is only in my brain, but I have some ideas as to how to start it. Like it? Review it. Hate it? That's alright.