Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

The Snow Prince
Chapter Three – Saltwater Room
3rd person's point of view

An hour has passed; the pain from his wrists has finally melted away. Hitsugaya opened his eyes slowly and fluttered them, still overpowered by drowsiness. His visions were all blurry until he tried to rub his eyes, but his arms were locked away by two protective arms. That's when he sensed his lover's warmth.

He studied the strawberry as he sleeps. His orange hair short enough to reveal the shape of his face, and those lips that only he can kiss. Hitsugaya blushed at the scenery, with the afternoon sun shining on Ichigo's face. The man tried to shift and Hitsugaya took the opportunity to move his hands freely from the grip and wrapped them around the other's neck to keep him from turning away. His fingertips brushed through Ichigo's lips, and he smiled slightly at the view.

It started to snow outside as he looked through Ichigo's shoulders. The worst was over, and their love story was far from done. He has to gather up the strength he accumulated through his husband and use it to continue telling her the story of what happened to him long time ago. Kori might be young, but she's intelligent—she's growing up quickly by following her father's footsteps. She has Hitsugaya's perception and mentality, despite her small figure. She has Ichigo's courage, force, and intensity.

What she'll have to discover by herself later on, is the fact that she's not only a shinigami. As the two boys synced their reiatsu and transferred some of them to their child, they discovered something they just cannot believe. Hyorinmaru was Hitsugaya's Zanpakuto; Zangetsu was Ichigo's Zanpakuto…

Kori's Zanpakuto appeared before the two of them with ice swirling all around it. The strangest thing was—it didn't look like a sword. It was a wand. A wand that looks exactly the same like the Snow Queen's, but story tells it, that she disappeared long time ago when her son took over her throne. She died, and she didn't trust him with her power, so she hid it. Far away from harm and destruction— at Lapland.

Ichigo told him that there was nothing to worry about; later on they'll have to tell her everything before it's too late. Hitsugaya decided to agree, their daughter was too young to accept everything. All the shinigami wanted to do was to protect him and his daughter. It wasn't a surprise when it comes to Ichigo. Once his mind is set on something, he goes for it.

Even if he won't admit it, Toshiro really does feel safe around the shinigami. Although he snaps at Ichigo because that's just how he is, he loves him truly. He felt bad enough that Ichigo is trying to keep himself together not only because of his own temper, but for the sake of their daughter's understanding. One day, the time will come where they have to leave their human lives and they will no longer be with her physically. This made Toshiro weak on the knees.

It's been about twelve years since he has last been at Seireitei. He wondered who took his place, and who's been able to lead the captain's around. It was true, when Yamamoto sent Ukitake, and Kyoraku to protect him, the rest of the captains protected the whole town while Kusaka's real plot was to anger Ichigo by hurting Hitsugaya himself. Sadly, it did work. It did happen, and time can't go back. Kusaka wanted to kill Ichigo for taking him away and neglecting their friendship.

Hot tears started to flood his eyes again and closed them to prevent them from falling down his cheeks. His face started to pale as the memories started coming back to him.

"K-Kusaka, h-how dare a-ah y-you…" his friend punched his gut. Hitsugaya coughed out blood.

"Stop it…! I-Ichigo's not c-coming… a-ah… R-Release me this—"he started breathing heavily and the pain increased. "N-NO!"

Thrusts came harder and his head was coming to a short circuit. As the pounding came deeper and deeper, Hitsugaya cried to himself as he clung unto the red stained sheets. In a few seconds, Kusaka came. Leaving an exhausted Hitsugaya drop down on the sheets and burry himself there until he fell asleep from uneasiness. His hands were handcuffed, and just before his friend left, he heard laughter.

"That annoying fucker will come, it's all because of you Toshiro. He's only coming here for you. If you didn't fall for that stupid shinigami then you wouldn't be in this position in the first place."

Hitsugaya whimpered. "H-He doesn't love me…" But he was ignored.

"And when he does come… Once he steps inside my trap…" he chuckled darkly. "He's dead."

"K-Kuro… s-saki…" he bewailed, bursting into tears. Don't come here… He trembled.

It was too late, a few hours later, the shinigami bursts through his trap—exactly like how Kusaka planned it.

Hitsugaya started shaking uncontrollably and cried Ichigo's name out. The man woke up right away, shaking Hitsugaya awake as much as he could. The smaller one whimpered and trembled in fear, while Ichigo held him close once again, rubbing his back in comfort. "Shh," he said quietly. "I'm here, Toshiro…"

The shaking finally stopped and Hitsugaya had a huge frown on his face. His eyes snapped wide open.

"K-Kurosaki!" He cried happily, showing a side of him that no one else but Ichigo will ever know. He started hyperventilating. "He… He…"

"No baby," Ichigo shook his head as he cradled the crying boy. "He's not coming back. I'm here."

His face flushed red in frustration once again. His grip tightened on Ichigo's shirt, feeling the attraction in between the two of them. "Don't leave me…" he whispered.

"I won't, you know that…" The man's soothing voice made Toshiro's muscles relax.

Ichigo blamed himself for all of this. If he didn't push Toshiro away, he probably wouldn't be acting like this right now. Guilt started to kill him again, and he wrapped his arms around the boy's shoulders, using gravity to pull him closer.

"What if my sickness comes back again?" he asked Ichigo quietly.

The shinigami stiffened. "Take that back."

"I'm just ask—"

"Take it back NOW."

Toshiro started shaking in fear and started to push him away but Ichigo still kept him close.

"Take it back…" he whispered, his voice was unsteady. "I don't want to lose you again…"

Ichigo broke down as he sat up and covered his face with his palm. The boy sat up too, clinging unto his arm as he sat still, not knowing what to do. They were fighting again. They already stopped fighting, it was a long time ago but now they're back to arguing. They're back on reminiscing painful memories.

He crawled to the strawberry's lap and wrapped his legs around Ichigo's waist then his arms around his neck. "I-Ichigo…?"

"Yeah."

"I love you." The tone was innocent.

The strawberry chuckled and removed his hands from covering his face. When he stared into those hopeful turquoise eyes, he melted. He gave Toshiro a goofy grin.

"I love you too," he said is he licked the tears from his lover's eyes.

Ichigo leaned forward, a few centimeters away from the boy's lips until a soft knock was heard from the door. Toshiro blushed as they shared an awkward silence (not to mention, the position they were on and how his shirt was halfway off) and jumped off his lap as quickly as he could. He then rolled on the covers and went under it to hide his very red face.

"Papa?" a small voice called out.

Ichigo smirked and looked at the door. "Come in babe."

The door opened, and Kon was the first to appear. The teddy bear ran and hid under the covers where Toshiro hid. A few minutes of silence were shared once again, and Toshiro shrieked. Ichigo's eyes widened and laughed at the reaction that his lover made. He stopped however, when the covers was removed to conceal a furious boy trying to remove Kon from hanging on his waist. This made the shinigami irritated and veins popped from his forehead as he grabbed Kon by his ears detach him from his grip around Toshiro and threw him across the room like he always did.

"How many times do I have to tell you?" he grimaced. "Don't go hugging peoples' husband like that!"

"Ichigo!" Kon cried, ignoring the shinigami's warning as he stood up and ran towards him to get pounced on.

The strawberry looked up as he stood from the bed and raised his leg, only to catch the little stuffed toy with his toes and slam him on the woodened floor. "Oi, where's Kori?"

All he heard was a muffled explanation until the door creaked open. There was their princess, rubbing her eyes slowly with her left hand as she walked towards Toshiro who was still blushing furiously from what he did a while ago.

He picked her up and sat her on his lap as he took off her pigtail and tied it into curls. Since when can a guy like him style a girl's hair? He's not ga—nevermind. Ichigo shook the thought off. He knew the truth; it was like Toshiro was the mother in the family, although he doesn't show it. The shinigami smiled slightly at the façade that his lover built to see Kori smile back at him.

Kori yawned slightly and flimsily leaned on her papa's small but strong chest. Ichigo sat back down next to the other two and ruffled both of their hair. Toshiro gave a small chuckle, while Ichigo smiled and kissed his forehead. Kori's smile brightened.

"You guys are okay now?" her eyes sparkled in curiosity.

"We were always okay honey," Toshiro answered first and the carrot top nodded in agreement.

"But I saw blood all over the floor and there was a b-bro…" she paused as she tried to pronounce the word properly. "—broken plate all over the kitchen."

Toshiro stood up and carried Kori on his left side and supported her weight with his arm. The wound might have stopped bleeding, but the numb feeling all over his other arm still remained. He was glad enough that his daughter didn't have an idea about their past. He didn't want his daughter's heart to fall into pieces.

"Ichi-tou's going to fix it," he said apologetically as he hears Ichigo groan.

"What are we going to do?" Kori asked as she received a kiss from her otou-san.

"You guys are going back to the living room since your papa didn't finish telling you the beginning of the story."

Kori's eyes glistened. "Really?"

"Yes, really."

When the three of them reached the end of the hall, Ichigo turned to the left where the kitchen was as messy as Hell while Toshiro turned to the opposite direction where the video camera remains on recording.

As they sat on the sofa, Toshiro frowned. "Doesn't this camera run out of battery?"

Kori giggled, "Ichi-tou plugged it in just in case we took too long!"

"Oh, is that so?" He thought out loud. "So, where was I?"

"Papa? What happened to your arm?" Was the quick over turn of the subject.

"It's nothing, papa just touched a heated stove." He lied quietly.

"Oh." Kori nodded as she sat down on the side of the sofa. "You told me that you went to grandma's house~"

"That's right," Toshiro exclaimed as he started to remember. "When I got there… She was sitting down by the bonfire—"

"Okaeri, she said with a weak smile. Then that's when I noticed she was fading away, spirit orbs started flying out of her but she seems so happy as she stared at me."

"She died, papa?" Kori asked.

"No, but she went to a better place. I showed her a book that I always treasured, it was her gift to me on my birthday when I was little, just before the month when I left to become a shinigami," The young boy looked down, away from the camera. "She told me never to forget the story, and pass it on to the next generation."

"And then?"

"And then she disappeared, just like that. So I left, walking to the gate where it led me to your tou-san,"

"Ichi-tou?"

"Yes," he smiled. "He changed my life."

Ichigo swept the floor and returned the cold chicken back to the stove to reheat it. He wiped the sweat off his temples and turned the faucet on.

After he finished washing his face, he raised his shirt to dry his skin off. His phone started to ring. He raised his eyebrows, "Just who the hell would be calling me right now?"

He answered, "OI! DID YOU FORGET THAT TODAY WAS RUKIA'S LABOR!"

It was Renji, he quickly looked as his call logs as he realized he missed 14 missed calls from his best friend. "Shit! I'm sorry! How was it?"

"It's a boy!" Renji replied proudly. "God, Ichigo, I'm finally a father!"

The shinigami smiled to himself, "I'm glad to hear that."

"Are you guys busy?" the other line asked.

"Sort of," he replied as he looked at the spot where the broken pieces of the plate laid on earlier. "We'll visit in an hour, Toshiro's telling Kori the story."

"That's a long story then," Renji sighed. "Why can't you just tell her your love story?"

"It's too dramatic," Ichigo muttered. "It felt like a miracle if it weren't for Toshiro's hidden powers…"

"That's true too," he replied right away. "Because of you and Toshiro, we wouldn't be able to live life all over again. It seems like destiny brought us all together. I can't believe we forgot each other after Kusaka's stupid plot. Quite surprising really, there were two King Seals. One that represents death, and the other to represent life. Hitsugaya had the King Seal buried in his heart."

"Mm," he sighed. "I find it amusing how I had another life, before this life."

"That was so confusing," Renji chuckled. "But I know what you mean."

"I died before," he said, tightening his grip on the phone. "But he loved me so much that he gave up his own life for me…"

"Hey, man, don't worry about it," said Renji who tried his best to be supportive. "Look what fate has done, brought you guys back together. All of us started over because of him."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

Pakkun: *bows apologetically* I'm sorry if this all seems confusing right now,
Toshiro: OF COURSE IT'S CONFUSING. YOU KILLED ALL OF US, INCLUDING ME. THEN YOU HAVE THE DEUS EX MACHINA WHERE ALL OF A SUDDEN, THERE'S TWO KING SEALS.
Ichigo: *nod nod* This should be a sequel instead of the real story.
Toshiro: *turns to readers* I'll make this clear so listen up.
Toshiro: Aizen found a record of Kusaka and searched for him in Hueco Mundo. When he did, he made two clones. One clone was to act as if he wanted to kill Ichigo out of hatred, but all he wanted was to release the King Seal that I have. War begins, he ended up killing Ichigo and the rest of the captains, and I supposedly was too late to save him in time. So the King Seal of Life awakened inside of me and gave us another chance to live life as human once again. I was the only one that carried those painful memories. The other clone was well, on Earth all this time. Waiting for us to get sent back to Earth and ruin my relationship with Ichi—…
Ichigo: And Toshiro finds me in Karakura town, where I was studying at a Health Academy, and running a pastry shop for my family. He tries to awaken my memories, then he realized that Rukia was my fiancée because of the rings that we wore.
Toshiro: I got closer to Ichigo later on, and him and I fell for each other, all over again, leaving Rukia alone and Renji comes along in the scene where he confesses his love to her.
Pakkun: *speechless* How do you guys know all of this stuff?
Toshiro: *irritated* WE READ YOUR BRAINSTORMING PAPER, BAKA.