Hi, Minna! RkInu241 here! I hope I didn't make you guys wait to long for this chapter. I will be going back to my grandmother's place, and unfortunately, she doesn't have internet service there. And after that, school's starting again. So the updates will be a bit slower. But, I'll make sure to put up one chapter every fortnight at least to keep you guys satisfied.
Anyway, I had a little trouble sorting out Hitsugaya's past. In the beginning I was pretty sure of myself and the storyline. But when it came down to this little junction, I thought that what I'm trying to portray may be very hard to understand. I am still going to follow my original plan, and I hope you guys like it.
Special thanks to xzaboo, Cerulean Soul, Crazy Hyper Lady, Nobody Important, OshayO, Neko-Kikiru, Meesch, DarkWolfAngel187, Lady Light and Sesshoumaru Minion for reviewing my last chapter. Now, I end the small talk and hope that you enjoy this chapter of Frozen Memories as much as the previous chapters. Domo Arigatou Gozaimasu!
Summary: Hitsugaya meets his parents in Soul Society. His father's a captain, his mother's a vice captain. But here's the catch: Hitsugaya hates his parents. Big time.
Genre: Drama/Angst
Timeline: Post Arrancar Arc
Beta: feathersnow, Kero
Frozen Memories
Arc 1: Breaking the Ice
Chapter 3: It's Easier to hate Than to Love
"Okaasama, Look at these flowers!"
A six-year-old Hitsugaya Toushirou handed a little bunch of flowers he had picked from the field to his mother. She took them from his tiny hands and smelled them. She smiled at him.
"Thank you, Shirou-chan," she said.
"I picked them just for you, Okaasama!"
At that moment, the gate to the backyard swung open and a middle aged man walked in. The man's face broke into a wide smile and his azure eyes sparkled with joy and contentment. His long ebony hair was tied in a topknot, making the man look somewhat regal in bearing. Hitsugaya's mother walked over and gave the man a peck on the cheek.
"How was work, anata?" she asked as she took the man's coat.
"We're doing fairly alright considering it's been almost nine years since World War two. Though there have been a few complications, our business is so far stable and slowly improving."
"Otousama, welcome home!" A hyper Hitsugaya flung himself at his father, catching him in a tight hug.
"How's my little boy doing?" said the man, ruffling Hitsugaya's hair.
"I'm not little! I'm already six years old!"
"Yes, yes. But until you grow as tall as me, you'll still be LITTLE Shirou-chan."
"I will grow as tall as you, Otousama! After all, I'm your son."
"Now, now both of you. Dinner's ready. Let's go inside."
"Hai, Okaasama!"
"That be great, Ren. I'm starving too."
"Really, the both of you are so alike."
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"Hold up, taichou! If you and your folks had such a good relationship, then why do you say that they're the ones who killed you?"
"Like I said, it's a long story. The hatred they had towards me more likely started when the country's business dropped suddenly."
"How would that affect your father?"
"Getsushirou was the finance minister of Japan at that time."
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"This isn't possible! The damn French had to drop rates when we're asleep! We've most likely lost about half a million in U.S dollars!"
"How terrible! What's going to happen to our country now?"
"The rate of our Yen has dropped considerably thanks to them. But if all goes well, we can have it back up by the end of the year."
A seven year old Hitsugaya listened as his father told his mother about the problems he was having. Hitsugaya was worried. He had never seen his father so angry in all his life. He wished he could do something to help him, but he had no idea what to do, especially when I came to finance. He didn't know anything about how finance worked at all. But what Hitsugaya heard next shocked him terribly."
"Toushirou couldn't be anymore useless in this situation."
'What?' Hitsugaya's heart skipped a beat.
"Anata, you shouldn't say that. Toushirou is a bright boy. His marks at school are at the top of the whole school. Mind you, school, not class."
"Even so, he's no good at finance. He's more likely to fling a sword around and do paperwork than trying to do hard core business. He's never going to make it in the future if that's all he can do. He may as well be like those spirits we see everyday, wandering about aimlessly as carefree as anything."
Hitsugaya thought his father was a bit wrong on that fact. He believed that the spirits that his family could see where still wandering about here because they were looking for their family. He also thought that spirits like that were lonely and sad, not one bit carefree at all. Suddenly the door he was hiding behind was flung open, revealing a very angry Getsushirou.
"Go away! You're nothing but a nuisance! A useless brat!" Hitsugaya could smell the alcohol on his breath. "Go back upstairs! Sneaking in on conversations is the most cowardly act I've ever seen!"
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"Wait a minute, taichou! Your family could see spirits!"
"Yes, but I was the only one who could see Shinigami."
Okay… Well Taichou in my opinion, he was alittle harsh on you. You weren't even reaching maturity yet."
"Getsushirou thought that I wouldn't be of any help in the long run. I suppose it's more likely due to his sense of honor."
"Sense of honor?"
"He was a man brought up in the code of bushido. At my age, he was already on the battle field and helping out in the war."
"So he thought that you were useless because you didn't even help him?"
"I guess it was sort of like that. After that day my relationship with my father was never the same."
"It must have been hard on you."
"You could say that."
"What about your mom? Didn't she still love you despite the relationship between you and your father?"
"Not quite. Renhana liked taking sides during arguments. It didn't help much when she took Getsushirou's side of the argument."
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"Toushirou! How can you be so useless! Can't you even do simple chores right? You really are useless."
Hitsugaya Toushirou was sad. It wasn't just his father now, it was both his parents. He wondered how it could have turned out like this. They had been happy together just half a year ago, and now his parents were blaming him for every single mistake or mishap that happened, be it little or big.
"You're the biggest regret in my entire life!"
"Why, Okaasama?" he asked in a small voice.
"I regret giving birth to such a useless creature! You're better of dead!" She threw a bowl at him.
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"She really said that? I thought she said she was heartbroken when you died!"
"I don't know either. Maybe she did regret. But on the other hand, she may be lying."
"Well, you still haven't explained why you said that they're the ones that killed you?"
"To be more exact, Matsumoto, they left me for dead. So in a way, they did kill me."
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"Toushirou, here," his mother shoved a sweater at him. "Take it as an early birthday present. I don't want to have to hear you whine to me saying that I haven't given you one."
Hitsugaya took the sweater with a heavy heart. His mother wasn't even giving him much attention. It was as if he was only a burden to her. The reason she had given him the gift was because one of the neighbors had complimented that he looked half-frozen. There wasn't a single thread of love in it at all. Suddenly, his father walked into the room.
"Toushirou, get dressed. We're going out." Without looking back, his father marched out of the room. Hitsugaya sighed and got up. If he didn't hurry, his father would complain and say that he was useless, as usual. Over the past months, he had gotten used to his parent's scolding and lack of attention.
After getting dressed, Hitsugaya left with his father in the car. As his father drove, Hitsugaya watched as the scenery flashed by. He could see the whole town flashing by before his eyes. Soon, the scenery changed to that of a forest and Hitsugaya couldn't recognize where they were.
Soon, the car screeched into a halt. Hitsugaya's father then promptly dragged him out of the car and into the forest. He was confused when his father finally let go of his hand. Turning around, his father took one look for him and made a dash for the car. Hitsugaya was shocked. He immediately gave chase. But he was too late.
As the car drove off all he could do was watch it disappear own the road. At that moment, he noticed that it was getting very cold.
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"Taichou, he really left you there?"
"Ah. After that, I wandered around for a while and died from the cold. As a soul, I made it back to my home. But even though they could see me, they didn't care. They just left me there, not even looking at me or paying attention to me."
Matsumoto couldn't believe her ears. Even though they had abandoned him, he had gone back. But still they ignored him like he wasn't there. 'It must have been hard on taichou', thought Matsumoto as she looked at her captain. She was still holding onto him, for fear that if she let go he wouldn't tell her anymore.
"When I was sent to Soul Society, I decided I wasn't going to care", he continued. "That it hurt to much to love. I decided that I would hate them. Even if they said that they loved me again, that I would still hate them. So, that's how it is. Matsumoto?"
Matsumoto couldn't keep the tears from forming. She thought about the loneliness Hitsugaya had felt when his parents ignored him, about the way that he had decided that it was easier to hate than to love his parents. She couldn't help herself when she gathered her captain in a hug. She was glad, however that he didn't object to her doing so.
I hope this chapter has met your expectations. If you want to tell me whether it has made you cry or made you feel disappointed, then review and tell me. It only takes a push of the little purple button at the bottom left hand corner of the screen. Flames invited. Until the next chapter, Ja ne!