To say that his mother was startled when she realized that he had brought a woman home to meet she and her husband, would be an understatement. Up until then, Shiori had more or less resigned herself to living her life wondering if her only biological son, Shuichi, would ever meet someone and settle down.
Oh sure, her darling boy never seemed as if he were lonely or anything. But a mother always worried about her children.
Even so, every women that she had tried to set him up on blind dates with, had had nothing terrible to say about him. In fact, all any of them ever gave her was an endless stream of, 'He's lovely', 'He's wonderful', 'He's polite', 'He's so well mannered', etc. whenever she asked them after their dates.
Yet she had also heard an equal amount of, 'He's nice, but not what I'm looking for in a husband' as well. Which...really wasn't unusual given how well-behaved, and gentlemanly Shuichi was. To her, it was almost as if many young women these days didn't know a good thing when they saw it.
But still...
Shiori had no idea why all of the young women that she had set her son up with hadn't wanted him. Nor he any of them. And she had worried endlessly about whether or not she should bring up the subject of an arranged marriage to her son. In fact, she had been agonizing over the subject for months now but hadn't been able to manage to broach the subject any just yet.
So having him suddenly drop by she and her husband's home so late in the evening with a young lady in tow, was a huge relief to her. Especially since he seemed to be so pleased with himself for his 'catch' that he had told her the same exact thing that he had said to his father before he and the young lady had been invited in.
He had grinned a mischievous grin the second that he spotted her sitting on the couch, grabbed the young woman with him by the shoulders and practically steered her over to Shiori and then said in an excited tone, "Look what I caught to bring home to you mother."
He sounded almost like a teenager again to her. So proud of what must have seemed like an insurmountable feat that he had just accomplished, that Shiori had a little bit of a difficult time trying to think of what to say even as she stared at the young woman that her baby was so proud of brining home to her.
The young lady that her son had brought to meet she and her husband was certainly a beauty.
Tall, for a woman, but not so tall that her height didn't match Shichi's own. She had exotic features as well. Which also matched her son's.
Please god, let her be the one. Shiori silently prayed as the young lady finally seemed to figure out something of her own to say, and politely introduced herself to she and her husband.
"Hello, I'm Ichigo Kurosaki. I live in the same building as Shuichi," Most people would have stopped there once they got their name out, But the young lady didn't seem all that content to stop. So, she kept speaking and startled Shiori by saying. "I'm a single mother to a two-month-old daughter, Yuki. Shuichi and I have been seeing each other for the past month or so- and I really like your son a lot. And if you aren't opposed to our relationship, I'd really like to make an honest man out of him someday in the near future."
Shiori was shocked by the young lady's boldness, to say the least. After all, most of the women that she knew weren't quite so...peculiar. In fact, many of them were rather shy and timid.
Which apparently, didn't sit well with Shuichi given how he kept turning them away.
Studying the young lady, Shiori couldn't help but notice that there was an air of confidence and honesty to the young lady- er, Ichigo- she meant to say Ichigo, that was pleasing to her.
Not knowing what to say, she simply looked at her son who looked just as startled, but oh-so-very-happy too- even as he said teasingly, "I thought that it was my job to propose to you. Not the other way around."
Which caused Ichigo to sputter a bit as she blushed prettily before saying with a small pout, "I was just being honest!" Her words causing Shuichi to chuckle in amusement even as he leaned forward a bit to nuzzle her cheek affectionately.
Shiori stared at the two for a few seconds longer before casting a curious glance at her husband to see him looking as pleased as a peacock by what he was seeing, and then smiled.
It would seem as if she had worried for nothing all this time.
Shuichi had finally found someone on his own after all. Now all she and her husband had to do was get to know the young lady a bit more. And to do that, there would have to be questions. Lots of them.
For both Ichigo and her son.
Finally finding her voice, Shiori stood up and held a hand out to the young woman, "Hello, I'm very glad to meet you, dear." And she was, really. Especially since trying to marry Shuichi off for the past few years or so had become the source of a lot of headaches for her.
"It's nice to meet you too, ma'am." Ichigo said easily as she shook the woman's hand as Shuichi watched them with an expression of pure and utter happiness on his face that he rarely showed anyone as his father finally walked over and then introduced himself to Ichigo too.