Breath of Life
Topsy Toshiro
The thought that crossed Toshiro's mind to describe everything was that today just wasn't his day. His foot stung due to the broken glass in his foot. Well, seeing one his former mentors having an incestuous kiss really upset his stomach. Of course, the boy knew it wasn't Kaien's fault, but still... seeing the man and Yuzu kissing was not fun. It was the farthest thing from fun. It was the closest thing to anything dealing with Mayuri.
"Mind don't go there. That man did not do something to make Yuzu go after her uncle. That's just..."
Kukaku then pulled him aside and hand him sit. Getting his foot cleaned out wasn't fun either. It stung and he had no plans on arguing with the idea of sitting on the couch with his foot up. That was until Karen got back. He found himself looking right up at her, the look on her face making him feel as if he had done something wrong when he really hadn't. That was one of the reasons he made to clean up the glass on the floor, that and the fact he was horribly OCD about things.
"No... you stay there. I'll clean it up. I'm surprised you of all people stepped in the glass."
Toshiro's eye's squeezed shut. "Why do I always have to do stupid things around her or she has to find out I did stupid things. This stinks." Letting out a deep breath he finally spoke up, his tone tightening. "She's not sick Karin."
It wasn't until she mentioned it that he realized he had mistakenly used her first name instead of her last name. When Karin went up stairs he stared at the wall as he frowned. She then came back downstairs. "I don't get it. Yuzu got upset when I asked her if she had a fever."
"That's because she kissed him when her uncle went to check for a fever and she doesn't want to tell Karin that"
"What ever is the matter?"
Toshiro at first looked at the ground. "She noticed."
"I wonder if she's going to take your temperature, what with your face being as flushed as it is."
"That!" The boy looked up. "Nothing?"
Karin gave him a look of disbelief. "You didn't try to take Yuzu's temperature and she do something stupid like try and kiss you?"
"She thinks Yuzu kissed me."
"And that bothers you because?"
"Because... because..." Karin tried saying something else to him, but he found himself feeling suddenly uncomfortable around her. "Look, I think I'll go upstairs to rest in your dad's room."
Toshiro found himself hobbling then up the stairs, his lips pushed together. Hyorinmaru was for some reason wanting to be a pain. "It bothers you, you know."
"I guess its better she thinks it was me rather then Yuzu, but... honestly. I don't like the idea that she thinks that her sister and I kissed. I mean... me kissing her sister before her." Silence came until Toshiro was right next to the bed.
"Should I bring up the fact she likely thinks you've already kissed someone and had experience with as old as you are or should I point out the fact you actually admitted that you want to kiss Kurosaki Ichigo's sister Karen?"
Toshiro's eyes widened and he flopped onto the bed. "Why? Why did you have to bring that up? And how does me being upset that Karen thinks I kissed her sister before her equates me wanting to kiss her."
"Well... I have a logical question for you and I want you to think about it carefully. Why would you be worry about kissing in the first place?"
"Because kissing is in the recent conversation."
"You didn't stop and think about it carefully."
"I didn't have too."
"Let me try again since my young master is so dense. You specifically said you don't like the idea that Karen thinks you and her sister kissed. If you didn't care about Karen and you kissing then why would you worry about it."
"Shut up Hyorinmaru. For once you're being annoying. Simple though. I don't want to ruin our friendship. If her sister and I were to start dating and suddenly break up she would be furious at me."
"Now you're stretching things."
"And you're not?"
"Really. You jumped to you and Yuzu possibly dating when we both know it would never happen and thus you know you'll never be worried about it. You know Karen knows you're not interested in her sister from her own words. She was even trying to apologize for Yuzu's behavior. You're upset because you don't like the fact she thinks you and Yuzu kissed. And why?"
"... great. So I like Karen because that's the only reason why I could be upset about what she said. I don't want her to think anything... is going on... between her sister... and me." Toshiro rolled over, his eyes looking at the ceiling. "You're mean." He stayed there until he heard Isshin yelling from the hall. "Sounds like he found out."
He hobbled to the door in time to hear Isshin ask Kaien if he had kissed Yuzu. He listened to Kaien go off and lie to his brother about what happened. "Why? Why is he lying?"
"Because he doesn't want Isshin to get mad at Yuzu."
"Taicho will kill him." Toshiro took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "He's lying."
Things snowballed from there. Ichigo came and scooped him up. He wasn't liking the fact that Kaien and Isshin were still arguing. The subsitute shinigami set him down at the table. Kukaku frowned at Ichigo before going and wrapping her arm around her neck. "What is going on? Those two haven't been at each others throats in years."
"I'm not sure."
Karen opened up the food. "I think Yuzu kissed Toshiro because some kids at school were teasing her about not having a boyfriend or something."
Kukaku suddenly let go of Ichigo causing him to drop to the ground. "That's not what happened."
"Yeah... Yuzu thinks you and Toshiro are dating." Ichigo muttered his words out through a groan. He stood up in time to see the small taicho's head dart down, his cheeks turning red. "Um... Toshiro... it's not as if you two are dating."
The small taicho could feel his cheeks heat up even more. One of his hands reached up to tap the edge of the table while he let out small puffs of frustration. The oldest female in the room shook her head. "Well that's not what happened. Your sister kissed Kaien."
Karen blinked a couple of times before pointing a utensil at Toshiro from where she was dishing up food for everyone. "Toshiro... why didn't you tell me? I mean... I assumed Yuzu had given you... wait. She... why would she..."
"That's why I didn't say anything. You're uncle also tried to shift blame onto himself when taicho went off on her, but... I couldn't let him do that."
"Wait... why would Kaien do that?"
"Taicho said, "the Kaien I know would never do something like that" and then he says, "Yes. The Kaien you knew would never do that, but I don't know this Kaien. In case you've forgotten I've lost my memories, so I could very easily have turned into the bad guy here."
Kukaku let out a deep sigh. "Toshiro... what did you say right after that."
The boy's head jolted up. "He's lying. They're both lying as I'm assuming your daughter tried telling you it wasn't her fault. Your brother was just trying to step in for you because you weren't there at the time to handle the istuation and she used it and took advantage of him, not the other way around." He took a deep breath. "Then taicho says "I know they're both lying Toshiro. I don't understand why thought."
"She's lying because she's..."
"Stop... I get it. You and your memory." Kukaku walked over and ruffled Toshiro's hair. "It's all right."
"Is it?" Ichigo shook his head just as Kaien came down the stairs. Something was wrong, but Kaien shook his head before storming out. Isshin was not happy. "Dad? What happened?"
"Kaien said he can't stay."
Kukaku flinched while Toshiro's jaw dropped. "What do you mean? Or do I have to wish that Toshiro was there to repeat the conversation word for word?"
"He said something about feeling like he's in the way and useless." Isshin went and sat at the table. "I'm hoping he comes back on his own because I can't feel his reiatsu. Can you?"
"I could try looking for him, but its best that he..." The woman paused, noticing that Toshiro was staring at the ground. She wrapped her arms around his neck.
Rukia frowned. "Hey... why don't we eat dinner? We can come up with a game plan."
