Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters. Its a brand new year, my evil plans shall continue! MUAHAHAHAHA!
The Bridge Of Silence
+---+
+Who We Are+
'There's no such thing as fairytale endings
Only those endings that were created by us.'
+---+
The bright blue sky of Karakura looked peaceful, the scattered clouds hung lowly on the city as it seemed that another rainy day awaited the city. The smell of summer was present, the wildflowers spilling out their delicious sweet smell, while the cicadas made their loud noise as it always did. It seemed like a perfect day, though it was none of the sort as a hole suddenly opened in the sky and a monster stepped out. The screeching scream from the Hollow resounded across the sky, a few more stepped out of the hole and it closed.
The sound of a sword cutting thru flesh came suddenly, like a bolt of lightening on a dark clouded sky, making the beast decimate in thin air. The residents of the town saw nothing, they went unbothered by the invisible beings that existed, and there were only a few who were able to see them. A bright blue flash cut thru the air, glowing brightly despite the bright day.
"This isn't so challenging." A tall orange haired young man appeared, as he held onto the hilt of his katana. "Honestly, this was too easy."
"You don't say. Boring." A dark haired young man replied, as the two landed on the rooftop of a building.
"Damn, that was nothing. I didn't even use my zanpaktou." A orange haired girl joined them, she danced towards the two boys.
The three teens stood there for a few minutes, the wind brushing against them as they waited for another hole to appear on the blue sky. The silence falling upon them like rain, clinging tightly without mercy and it would be nearly impossible to break it as it had become like a hard shell.
The balance had to be kept in the world, the order that which allowed that balance to exist was important, because without balance and the order there would be peril in the world. Perhaps, the existence to the world would not continue at all, it would fall into a chaotic state.
The two orange haired teens wore black shinigami robes, they looked almost identical despite the age difference, as their swords hung on their back being held by a red strap. Their amber eyes scanning the area, their minds focused on any single burst of spiritual energy that would suddenly come--but it would only seemed like a waste of waiting there.
The other boy was dressed plainly, a black dress shirt and blue jeans--nothing special as he had just gotten out of a meeting that he had attended with his parents. His dark hair shinning underneath the sunlight, bright like an onyx rock, smooth and soft it looked. His piercing blue eyes scanning as well like the two besides him, but it was becoming boring for him.
"Kazuki, Amaya, and Hiroki." Ichigo appeared suddenly, his youngest child following behind him along with his nephew. "Yourichi is going to kill the lot of you, and you kids--your mother is going to kill you for going off like that without our permission." He was looking directly at his teenage children.
"Aw, come on. Kaasan just finds an excuse for us to never leave her sight." Kazuki complained. The scowl on his face furrowed more, if that was possible since it was permanent like his father's. "It was easy, we didn't even have to use our shinkai at all."
Ichigo shook his head, impossible to deal with his children now that they were old enough to be on their own, but for the sake of his wife he brought himself to put some rules on them. Parenting couldn't get worse, dealing with the angst of the teenage years was better when he had witnessed Karin go through it without complaints at all. Unlike her, Kazuki and Amaya were immensely influenced by him, which had been a bad thing from the start, but they were extremely responsible. That didn't help with the whole punishment thing, it went the same for Tatsuya, who seemed very immerse on something else, and for Koji--even for a young age.
"I don't have time to argue, so get going. Hirako, go back to Ishida. He's pretty pissed off." The orange haired captain scratched his orange locks. "Come on, your mother is going to ground you."
Both teenagers dropped their mouths open, their mother was the one that dealt with the harsher punishments unlike their father--she was very harsh towards them. Grounding consisted of no training, no visitations to any squad, no anything at all that would satisfy their entertainment. Being locked inside the Kuchiki mansion, spending countless of hours doing calligraphy with their uncle--none of it was fun--but they were responsible enough to take care of it.
Complaining never ended up well, whining only resorted on getting more punishment, and simply going with it would be rewarding in the end with great things. So, Kazuki and Amaya followed their father back to the Urahara Shop, where their mother awaited for them along with their trainer, Yourichi.
"This is bad." Kazuki expressed.
"You don't say." Amaya commented, rolling her eyes.
+---+
"Mother, Father. I'm home." Abarai Takehiko entered their home, his baby twin sisters following behind him.
Almost all of the rooms were empty, no sign of anyone around at all--and no spiritual pressure seemed to be felt at all. The maroon haired teenager sighed, picking up his little sisters and sitting them up on the kitchen counter to clean their wounds on their knees.
"Nii-chan, Mommy and Daddy are going to ground you." Hikari smiled at him, as he cleaned her wound first.
"Really, well it was the two of you who started it." Takehiko complained, rolling his eyes. "I told you not to follow me, but no. Stupid little brats, following me isn't going to get the two of you anywhere at all. Ikkaku takes the training sessions seriously, did you two idiots thought he wouldn't?" Obviously, that was a very bad thing to have done in the first place.
"Nii-chan, we just wanted to know what it felt like sparring with him." Haruki explained, she being the smart one. "I tell Mom and Dad about it, I'm sure you wouldn't get in so much trouble."
They were ten, Hikari was too childish and almost like Yachiru from 11th division, but she was very clumsy. Unlike her, Haruki was the one who made the safer choices, though he doubted that he could call sparring with a strong shinigami a safe choice. Still, both of them were too troublesome along with Yuu and Hotaru--even though they were less troublesome.
He disliked the two, surely being a fifteen year old teenager was complicated enough, dealing with so many issues was so hard. Adding the two troublesome sisters, the whole equation was out of balance and getting ready to collapse, but he didn't want to see any of it at all. He proved himself many times, becoming strong to protect his two little sisters along with his friends, but it was sometimes too much.
Tatsuki and Renji had a stable home, both busy during the day, but not the entire day as they made time for their children. Respected shinigami, respected members of the Gotei 13 and they were very well honoured around the entire Soul Society. There was no one who didn't know them, the strong shinigamis that could be counted on for protection. They were great shinigamis, but they were great parents first.
"Renji, he almost kicked your ass." Tatsuki's voice came from the other side of the door. Takehiko froze on the spot, while the twins allowed their jaws to drop.
"No need for reminders, really." Renji answered, as he opened the door. "Takehiko, Hikari, Haruko--what are you three do--what the hell happen?"
Tatsuki turned to see the scrapes and scratches on her daughters, they looked like they had gotten up pretty badly, but who? She cross the room to the kitchen, examining the scrapes on their knees before allowing her eyes to look up at the two little twins.
"Well damn, Renji our daughters just had their first sparring session." She shook her head while grinning. "Takehiko, did you witness it? Don't tell me that Madarame did it."
"Actually, it was him and Yumichika. They were both in a good mood, so these idiots decided to spar." He pointed at the little girls. "I swear, I'm going to stop going there and go find Hisagi-fukutaichou and Kira-fukutaichou."
The twins rolled their eyes, making a vomiting motion at the sound of those names. Somehow, everyone hated to spar with the two because no one liked their strange attacks, always coming like they knew the next move. Obviously, Takehiko knew that his friends, Kazuki and Tatsuya had fallen into the trap of their uncle and his friend. It was a nasty fight, but then again, the three of them loved a good fight that would be to their heart's content.
Renji and Tatsuki smiled at each other, their children were wonderful and they wouldn't ask for anything more. Their children were exceptionally good kids, most of the time staying out of major trouble that would surely get them grounded, but they were still children that dealt with the whole growing up issues. They understood that Takehiko was the one who had it worse, dealing with the teenage life surely was not something pretty at all, and then having to deal with a lot of things from the academy.
Ten years after that strange fall out from Inoue Orihime, everyone moved on without looking back upon that day anymore. Everything was buried off somewhere, only the best times were the ones that deserved to be put on a picture frame to be showed off, it was peaceful. No one worried so much anymore, no one bothered to talk about that past and the enemies. That was their long history, something buried at the back of dusty books; the ones that no one would ever bother to read.
"I'll clean them up." Renji offered, taking the cotton ball from his son's hands. "Help your mother with dinner. Little ladies, you're both very much grounded for the entire week."
"Dad!" The two whined, as they were picked up by the red headed shinigami while he carried them to another room.
"Too troublesome." Takehiko shook his head. Picking up a bowl, and some stuff for dinner.
"That it is, but we make it alright." Tatsuki smiled at her son.
Even if nothing was perfect, and she doubted that it would ever be, life was alright without having to worry about the little things. They made it by without complaints, without wishing to have another life, and without regrets. Life was simple, nothing more or less.
+---+
Starring at papers with numbers and words was like attempting to read code messages--complicated and very boring to look at. Yuu scratched his head, his dark long locks falling all over his face, while blocking his dark brown eyes from the paper in his hands. Doing work in the library beat the cooking lessons from his mother, and avoiding his extremely brutish sister. At least, Hotaru was stuck in the 11th division doing something instead of annoying him, and he really did not feel like thinking about it any longer.
He stared and stared, nothing would come out of it at all and the day was slowly turning darker as the sun would soon disappear. Working for Ukitake-taichou on research was surely a very boring thing, though he liked his work despite of how much of it would be given out.
"Yuu…there you are." Yuri walked towards him with her hands crossed around her chest. "Ukitake-taichou is looking for you, and he sent me to give you the message. Also, Okaasan is having everyone at the house today before they go up to the real world tomorrow."
"Ah, I've forgotten that Karin-nee was going up there tomorrow." The young teen stood up abruptly, returning the book back to its proper shelf. "What's she cooking?"
The two walked out of the library and off to the 13th squad barracks, the sun seemed to get ready to set as the orange colours of the sky were becoming indigo as they continued walking back. Yuu had really wanted to get out of doing research because there wouldn't be anything to gain from it, only looking back at a past that was better forgotten, but he understood some of the reasons why everyone looked back in the past.
A past was what built the present, what created a life itself because of the mistakes that were made--it was simple enough to understand that much. The mistakes, mishaps, errors--they were simple words to comprehend completely--though they were hard to act upon. As Yuu looked back onto that past, he understood a bit of what his mother and everyone in his family had to face in order to get to where Soul Society was currently. Peace existed, sure, but it was a peace that everyone had to work on for so long in order to maintain it with worrying of the omniscient future.
"Ah, Yuu-kun." Ukitake-taichou stepped out of the office. "Did you get it done? I'm terribly sorry to trouble you like this."
"Yeah, its all there." Yuu smiled at the older captain. "Actually, you don't have to worry about it. Really. I don't mind at all, it was quicker today."
"I'm glad to hear that. You can go home now." He smiled at the young shinigami. "Oh, Yuri-chan. Tell Hitsugaya-kun to come visit me sometime, for tea."
Yuri smiled. "Hai, I'll tell Otousan. Good night, Ukitake-taichou."
Yuri and Yuu left quickly to get home, each wanting to know what was for dinner as each of them heard their stomach growl, demanding for food. They enjoy all the family dinners, everyone sharing and talking all the time--it was a happy moment in life. It was never dull, everyone shared stories of the day or whatever it was on their minds, the family unity was extremely strong and rare for everyone to see.
"There better be some good stuff, I'm starving." The dark haired boy said, after silence fell suddenly while they were walking towards Yuri's house.
"Aa. Okaasan said she was making something, but I didn't bother to ask." The dark haired girl shrugged. Her teal eyes were now shining under the dusky sky, they were bright and careful. "So, is that how you avoided Hotaru today?"
Hisagi Hotaru was a complicated child, a bit too rebellious for a young age, but she was a bit weak when it came to be a shinigami. She was like Yuzu in the outside, sweet and gentle, but she was extremely vicious and brutal. Always spending her time with Abarai Takehiko and their cousin, Kazuki, in 11th division doing whatever it was that the three did there. Even the Abarai twins went there for the fun, obviously watching brutish shinigami fight to death was something, though Yuu avoided that entirely.
He was a bit more reserved, friendly most of the time, but hated to use violence for no reason at all. He was a pacifist in a slight sense, only using violence when needed as his father had taught him to do along with his mother. Yuri could understand that, knowing that her aunt and uncle wouldn't like for their children to grow up to become deadly in any sort; it was better to be a bit docile in the outside.
Even though they were related, Yuri and Yuu rarely talked because they weren't the type to hang around each other for too long--it was something that no one could understand at all. They were silent most of the time, talking out loud and everything wasn't really fitting for them, so they were very mute half the time. Though, around their family members they talked normally, not too much of course because there really weren't many things to contribute to a conversation at all.
"I smell something good." He commented suddenly, as they walked closer to the house.
"Rukia-neesan is probably making that delicious pie." She smiled, as they got closer. "Race you, its been a while now."
"It has, hasn't it? Alright. Last one gives up their piece of pie." Yuu challenged his cousin.
"Heh, I'll win." Yuri stuck her tongue out, as they two raced quickly to the house.
Childish competitions were hard to pass on, mainly when there was something good to get as a prize.
+---+
Ten years had passed now, nothing outlandish had happen at all. Life in Soul Society continued to be normal, almost compare to what life was more than 50 years ago--something Hitsugaya could never complain about as he signed off his very last paper for the day. Though, he wouldn't go home just yet because there was still half a day left, so he would enjoy a cup of tea for the time being.
There really hadn't been much changes regarding all of the captain and vice-captain positions, only a few things had been changed so far. Matsumoto was no longer 10th squad's fukutaichou anymore, she had been moved to 5th, Kurosaki Rukia was moved to 6th with her brother, while Karin was moved to his squad. Those were only the few changes that had been made, aside from the personal matters that could never be pushed aside at all.
"Otousan, have you seen Okaasan?" Tatsuya entered, ruffling his straight white hair.
"I sent her to aid Ise-fukutaichou on a research observation in 12th squad." Hitsugaya replied. His son took a seat on the small couch, leaning his head back while letting out a long sigh. "Is something wrong?"
"Ah, yeah. Soi Fon-taichou has been making us work really hard." He stretched out, and groaned in satisfaction. "She's making me transfer to 5th company, something about me not being up front about my priorities or something."
Tatsuya was a recent shinigami graduate, another young prodigy that had come out of it, and he had moved up higher then expected. Being recruited by different squads was different, always being picked out first out of all the recent graduates--which made envy run deeper then anything else. He knew that being picked for good spots was because of his talent, not because he was the son of the famous prodigy and a famous strong mother.
"2nd squad is said to be complicated--mainly because of their arduous work." The white haired captain commented. "Whatever you decide, your mother and I will support you."
"Thanks, Otousan." Tatsuya jumped up from the couch. "I should get going, I was going to tell Okaasan the same thing. I'll see you tonight--better go before Soi Fon-taichou hangs me."
"See you at home." Hitsugaya smiled at his son as he left.
Even though his son was fifteen, he looked nothing but like an older person due to his actions and the way he spoke. There was so much pride that he had for his children, strong and very dependable without having to ask them to be that at all--they were very obedient for the most part at home.
Tomorrow he was going to take a trip with his wife to the real world, it seemed that she had been wanting to go for a while now to pay a visit to her father, and see how Karakura had changed over the past five years. Despite knowing that taking a day off like that would bring trouble, mainly because neither of them enjoyed spending countless of nights finishing paperwork, Toushiro was glad that his brother-in-law was always there to complete it for him.
Most of the time, it was Kurosaki Isshin who paid the visits. Karin had been willing to go, and the reason was something important for her as it always was. Toushiro wouldn't complain about going at all, making her happy was the only thing he always wanted to do for her, and so, tomorrow would be important for her. Only seeing her smile was enough for him, enough to complete part of his world along with his children.
+---+
Ichigo laid down on the couch on his office, the headache that he was having didn't seem to want to leave him at all. He was worrying a little bit too much about his children, obviously their punishment had been harsher this time around--and he didn't dare to complain at all with Rukia. After all, it had been his fault for how angry she had become lately, and mostly when she had ended up in the 4th division after falling and hitting her head.
That hadn't been the worst part, the terrible nightmare had only begun after they had being told that his wife was with child--again. Ichigo had been ecstatic to say the least, their youngest son was growing up quickly, that they rarely saw any of them. Koji was far too busy to come home from the academy, while Amaya and Kazuki were being switched from place to place. So, the house had been slightly empty for a while, but with the news of Rukia being pregnant again--he couldn't have been more happier.
The bad part was, that she hadn't been really glad about that because she could never get her work done at all since pregnancies took most of her energy away. Though, her mind had been changing lately about it as their children had become very glad about that as well, so it had been hard to avoid being unhappy about it.
"Kurosaki-taichou, still having a headache?" Hisagi entered the office, holding a tray that had two cups of tea. "I've made some tea, perhaps it might help."
The orange haired shinigami sat up, taking one of the cups and thanking the dark haired shinigami before taking a large gulp that nearly burned his throat. The hot liquid seeped inside of him, warming him a bit and making him forget the slight pounding on his head.
"Thank you. Sorry for troubling you like this, Hisagi." Ichigo said. "How's the squad doing so far on their training?"
"No trouble at all, Taichou." He answered, sipping some of his tea. "They're working, some still have problems with the stances, and some don't even know how to work with the practice swords. They have to learn kendo techniques, or else we'll have to cut more than half of the recruits."
Ichigo had forgotten about that particular part, and he wasn't happy having to cut off people just because their talent wasn't fitting for the squad at all. Surely the job of a captain was deemed as hard, complicated because it was dealt with a lot of issues that were hard to completely brush off easily, though somehow he could deal with those minor things without complaint at all.
"Alright, tomorrow I'll attend some practices and see for it myself." He finally gave in, knowing well that he was bound to practice with the squad members soon.
Sparring with them was easy, they were alright for the most part and usually kept up with all of the moves that he would use against them. Though, sometimes there were a lot of injuries, except that they weren't that serious most of the time. 9th squad had become stronger compare to the past, they could easily stand their ground without having to be told what to do, it was simply natural for them.
Training regiments had been changed over and over, usually Ichigo was the one to create it so that the squad would continue to grow stronger, to become the best that anyone had seen and to prove that they had moved away from their past. Being a captain had become one of the things that he took pride on, knowing that he had to become a leader was hard most of the time, but he could deal with it by having guidance from his superior captains that he had come to know.
"Kurosaki Ichigo!" Rukia suddenly burst into the office, fuming about whatever reason she had to fume about today. "You moron, how dare you forget to pick up our son today from the academy?"
His head was pounding rather loudly for him to actually get up, and retort back to her constant yelling that was getting on his nerves already. Koji trailed behind quietly, his raven colour haired swayed with the breeze that was coming from the open windows.
"Okaasama, that's not it." Koji protested, again. "Otousama said that he would come to see, not pick me up. I've already explain it to you."
"No, I will not hear any of it. You're making up excuses for him." She was determined to continue fuming, regardless of what their youngest son kept on saying.
"Never mind it then, I'm going to visit aunt Karin and uncle Toushiro." He disappeared quickly before wanting to witness his mother yell at his father for no reason, it was like that.
Ichigo sighed, burying his head against the pillow deeper while closing his eyes. Dealing with Rukia would take almost the entire day, she was very difficult and he couldn't stand arguing with her over something that was silly and didn't make sense at all. Rukia on the other hand, she glared at her husband and crossed her arms across her chest waiting for him to explain himself.
"Are you going to lay there all day?" She spat, tapping her foot against the woodened floor to annoy him.
"There's nothing I can do about that, so yes." He replied seriously. "I'm sorry though, I left a note specially for you this morning reminding you. I was careless, again."
Rukia looked at him, he looked worn out and extremely fragile--was she the reason for that look upon him? There was only so much to take, she hadn't been happy about having an unplanned thing to occur so suddenly, and so, the pregnancy had taken her as a surprised event. No, she didn't really didn't care about mothering another child for Ichigo, perhaps they would continue having children in the future since they had thousands of years to look forward too, but it didn't mean that she wanted to have children suddenly.
Then again, she enjoyed having small children around the house now that her three children were growing up, and moving on with their own lives as well. Knowing that they would come to whine about something, to complain, or to simply laugh about something silly--she missed that everyday. Koji was busy with the academy, he stayed in the dorms there and came home when he was free. Kazuki was busy training hard to join 5th squad, or maybe even 13th and that didn't allow him to be at home for too long. Amaya was off training as well in the real world most of the time, she came and went.
"No, I'm sorry." She suddenly said, picking up Ichigo's head from the pillow and then taking a seat so he could rest on her lap.
"It's a misunderstanding, nothing to worry about at all." He smiled, keeping his eyes closed. The sweet smell of her lavender shampoo was soothing to the senses, and it was comforting for his headache as well. "You haven't overworked yourself, have you?"
"No, Nii-sama doesn't allow me to work too hard." She ran her fingers thru his orange locks. "Its very troublesome though, annoying because he can't let me do my work right."
He chuckled softly. "He means well, nothing more. Don't get worked up over it, Byakuya only wants to make it comfortable for you."
Rukia knew it was true, but it wasn't like she was disabled or anything like that. Being treated with special care wasn't something that was dealt with easily, there were so many arguments that had been done over the past three times that which she had been pregnant; everyone cared too much. His sister-in-laws were allowed to do whatever they wanted when they were pregnant, but not for her because she was Kurosaki Rukia, a noblewoman who had to abide herself to the most respectable manners.
"I'm not disabled, you know." She expressed, looking down at her husband. His eyes opened suddenly, revealing those bright amber orbs that were captivating and mysterious.
"I'm sure everyone is aware of it. Even if you were, I doubted you would let anyone treat you like one." Ichigo sat up, pulling his wife into his lap. "Don't make it difficult for him either, he's your brother."
"Fine, if I must." Rukia gave in rather quickly, burying her face on his chest. "I'll try not to go insane, though you have about 8 months to deal with it."
"Its fine, as long as we get to welcome our child to the world." He kissed her head and laughed.
+---+
"You work extremely hard." Hisagi appeared suddenly behind Yuzu.
"I'm trying to get it done before I take my leave." She smiled as she felt his hot breath against her neck. "If you don't stop that, I'll fall asleep."
He let her go and stood besides her, watching her look thru all the files that she was putting on folders, and organizing them by ascending order. Yuzu was always the one to take care of everything, silently doing work without complaint, and making the office looked extremely clean and welcoming. Those types of skills weren't very common, no one would take their time to clean the office when there was tons of paperwork to get done, or sometimes there was not enough time in the day to do something like that.
The amazing things that took place in life, the changes that created good things most of the time were better; it was a small cause that would make the past become forgotten. Burying a lot of things had helped to overcome the adversity, to move away from that painful past and the painful memories, and with Yuzu there were a lot of happy memories that had been built. She was an amazing woman, strong unlike anyone else, truthful and compassionate.
"Karin and Hitsugaya-san are going to the real world tomorrow, are you watching Tatsuya and Yuri?" He asked, trying to remove the sudden silence.
"Mm, of course. I was thinking of taking a trip to Rukongai, there's some business that Ukitake-taichou wants me to take care there." She informed him, finishing up one last filing. "You don't mind do you? Tatsuya has to go as well for assignment, so would you come?"
"If I can, Kurosaki-taichou is thinking about taking tomorrow off." It wasn't very responsible to leave the squad unattended, but the idea of going with his wife was very much tempting.
Yuzu understood, her husband was very responsible and very considerate of both parties, and she didn't want to press the matter at all. She simply smiled at him, tucking a peace of her golden hair behind her ear and sighing. Somehow, every time that he stepped inside the room she became breathless--their relationship was extremely cliché like that--but she couldn't help it at all. Shuuhei was such an amazing person it was impossible to ignore that feeling, that strong male scent and strong attitude were hard to miss anywhere; that is why she loved him.
At their first meeting, it had been awkward and very silent, the innocence that existed there was hard to miss from afar, but neither of them had been innocent at all either. There was a hidden romance inside, one that was wild and no one would hear about at all--keeping it inside closed doors made life easier to lead. Shuuhei smiled at his wife though, pulling her into a hug without squeezing her tightly due to her growing stomach, and she wrapped her arms around him.
"I'll make dinner tonight, Yakitori chicken?" He suggested, feeling like having that for dinner.
"Of course, sounds great." She chuckled softly, pulling away while looking at the clock. "Ah, we should get going before Hotaru and Yuu get home."
"Hotaru is looking for a few more weeks of being grounded, did you hear about what she did in 11th division today?" Somehow, being aware of their daughter's behaviour was horrid, but there was nothing that anyone could do about it because she was spunky like that.
"Yuu is the only one that behaves properly, we'll have to deal with Hotaru though." She was exhausted, and wanted to get home without having to think of a punishment for her daughter at the moment.
"She's troublesome alright, but come on. I'll carry you." Hisagi picked his wife up to his arms, carrying her bridal style.
Yuzu smiled at her husband, and held on tightly as the jumped from surface to surface as the gentle breeze brushed against their skin. The sun was slowly sinking in the sky, the glowing colours shinning brightly despite the light disappearing slowly, creating a magical view of the horizon. She felt that today had been a good day.
+---+
The night was cool, the black painted sky was being illuminated by the stars like tiny diamonds that had been showered. A few clouds hung over the abyss, the bright moon shinning down upon the city as it looked like a perfect night, and Hitsugaya sighed in relief as his work had been done for once. Tomorrow there wouldn't be much of it to be done, so that would be a good thing for Ichigo, and for himself as well since there was enough to compensate over the matter.
"Outosan, good night." Yuri peeked out of the door.
"Good night, Yuri." He replied, looking back at her as she smiled making a peace sign before stepping back inside.
"Good night, Outosan." Tatsuya stepped outside. "I'll leave tomorrow with Yuzu-neechan. Good luck in the real world."
"Thank you, you be careful." He said to his son.
It was a peaceful night at the moment, without worrying about the amount of paperwork waiting for him early in the morning, or without having to think about orders to give out to his squad members since there weren't any important things that they could do at the moment. Matsumoto was only in charge of training with them and reporting about it, there seemed to be some work that they needed to improve on, but nothing much really.
They seemed highly capable of taking care of themselves and their fellow workers, though somehow they still needed to build a stronger trusting bond between themselves. The sweet smell of the flowers seemed to be travelling in the air, a faint mist seemed to appear suddenly as he watched the forest--a figure slowly coming out from there--that black hair bellowing with the wind picking up speed.
"Karin." He called out his wife's name, as she stepped onto the porch.
"Hey, I needed to loose some steam." Karin smiled, removing her zanpaktou from her side and taking a seat besides her husband. "Peaceful night, isn't it?"
"A bit, strange. The kids have gone to sleep, so you don't have to worry about sending them to bed." He informed her, wrapping his arm around her to pull her closer to him.
She smirked to herself, feeling the warmth coming from him as it always did because he would become suddenly nervous--though it was for no reason at all. The moon was bright, a few clouds looked like they were blocking it as they swept by--it was a very quiet night and she was enjoying it for the most part.
Today had been a long day, going from squad to squad delivering papers, or running small errands. Now she knew why working for her husband had been a bad thing, well that wasn't bad, but it was simply the hard work that she had to deal with. Being a fukutaichou had been a long dream, something that perhaps seemed so distant in the past, but the opportunity had come quickly in time.
"You don't mind that the squad is going to be left without neither of us, do you?" She asked suddenly, looking at him.
"Not really, Ichigo said he would take care of things." He answered simply. He was glancing at the bright moon, it was magical for some reason. The wind started to pick up quickly, making Karin shiver. "Perhaps we shall go inside, its getting a bit cold."
She nodded while standing up, dusting their robes, both entered their house and went straight to bed without stopping anywhere else. A long day was hard on the body, weariness came quickly now that there was nothing much to do at all--anyone could get easily bored--and neither of them enjoyed it very much at all. Though, busying one's self with training seemed to be the only thing that would be more entertaining, but watching for mistakes and to better other's training was considered to be boring as well.
"Are you going to stop at you father's house first?" Toushiro asked, wanting to know for sure to get ready.
"No, I'm going straight to that place." Karin said as she climbed onto bed, pulling the covers up. "There's something I'll like to inform you about too--but not tonight."
"Mm, why though?" Usually there wasn't much to say, nothing to inform now that they were in the same squad working together, and there was no need to keep each other away.
She didn't feel like sharing the good news just yet with him, somewhere inside she had wanted to share the news with the entire family present--just like it was done in books--it seemed so special that she could not help it but dream about it. The thought of knowing that she couldn't see her mother, that her children couldn't see their grandmother; that was somewhat of a hurtful thought on the daily basis. What would life be if she was still alive though? Kurosaki Masaki was a strong woman, had been during her years alive as she had raised them to be strong, despite the fact that Karin couldn't remember her.
Ichigo had been the one to always speak fondly of their mother, though it wasn't done on a regular basis, since she had being killed by a Hollow. Now though, after that had happen, she could see that her brother was easily easing that guilt inside of him and it was a good thing he was dealing with that. Maybe having built a family changed that, with a family there were a lot of feelings and uncertainties that everyone dealt with, but it wasn't so easy sometimes though. Issues were dealt with at some point, support and opinions were handed out freely--so with a family it wasn't so hard to handle life.
"Because, we'll leave it at that." She expressed, getting closer to Toushiro and putting her head on his chest to sleep. "They're not bad news at all, so don't get to worried about it."
"I'll try, but I can't promise it." He wrapped his arm around her, turning slightly so he could sleep.
The news didn't seem to sound so bad, the tone that his wife was using was normal for standards, though there was still something hidden behind that voice. He closed his eyes, thinking of something that sounded great inside of his head; except that all scenarios were proving his mind wrong. What was there to say? A sudden promotion was out of the question. Thinking about it all night would do nothing at all--tomorrow they had to go to the real world, so they had to leave early in the morning.
The rhythmically breathing of Karin came suddenly, that peaceful sleeping face was hard to not stare at because of how her skin glowed with the moonlight coming in from the window. Toushiro slid off the bed, attempting not to wake her up at all as he lifted her upper body, and then neatly setting her on the pillow. She whispered something unintelligently, making a face, and going back to sleep again without waking up any farther.
The night sky was always beautiful, a reminder of a dark ocean with sparks moving around softly--it was captivating to the heart. A dark abyss that held nothing deep in it, darkness engulfing a being whole--but the dark sky was something that made him ease his worries. A sudden visit to the real world always made him nervous, visiting Karin's dead mother felt strange to him, specially after he had learn more about the woman. Kurosaki Masaki sounded like an amazing person, someone who protected her children and cared deeply for them, and even giving her life to protect her son.
As a father, would he do something like that? Tatsuya, Yuri both of his children depended on him for protection along with their mother, and so, as a father it was his duty to protect them from a life and death matter without regrets at all. The answer was obvious, though it helped repeating it a few times more because he would give his life for them, as a father that was his honour for them. There was no need to make a realization like that at all, the realization had been present there for so long--it was too obvious.
Toushiro looked at the dark sky one last time, before returning back inside and slipping under the bed covers to sleep. Tomorrow would be one of those days, though not much energy would be wasted, it always felt like it did though. Sighing, he closed his eyes and fell into a deep slumber with the wind whistling softly thru the cracks.
+---+
Another long chapter--yay! Okay, well hope that everyone had a good holidays--I didn't really enjoy it 'cos I had to run around here and there. Bleh. But totally not the point here. For starters, thank you readers for the reviews.
+happygirl24- 'Yeah, I took your idea in consideration and tried to get an interest for him. I didn't want to leave him all by himself :( It would've been sad, but don't worry I wouldn't want to leave him all by himself. And, thank you. Hope that you liked this chapter, though it wasn't anything special at all.'
+WatermelonPrincess- 'Ah, I apologize. It had been the first time that I had stayed up late to write anything. Well, except for those pesky little essays and thesis for school, but nothing much. Nightmare is an awesome band, not sure of how you would like it. I'm listening to Orange Range now XD! Christmas was just the same, too much drama, and nothing special. Ah, and the story is not over. I wanted to make this the last chapter, but it was getting too long--almost 15 pages lol. So, I had to cut it up a bit. Hope that you enjoyed it though. Keep a look out for the next chapter--probably not next week soon though--school starts for me again. Thanks for the review!'
+Tsukihime nee- 'Well, I'm glad. Here's this chapter for now--hope that you enjoy it though. Took a bit for me to write it up, but not to worry. Thanks for the review as always!'
My apologies, but this story has one last chapter. Reason is, that it was getting too long and I felt like there needed to be a better proper ending. I did set out what I wanted to do, show everyone a bit more about their children and everything, so hope that didn't turn out too bad. Next chapter for sure will be the ending, and I'm starting to get some new ideas for a new story. It's going to be an AU, since I felt like I needed to write one after focusing on the slight original idea of shinigamis and such. So, that's about it. Don't go anywhere, the next chapter will come out as soon as I finish it, though school starts up for me on Monday. Eek! That's all I have to say--you know what to do. Review!!