I know I've said it before, but thanks again for supporting me! I'm glad you all liked the last chapter. I hope you like this one too (it's super long!)
The brilliant sun streaming in through the windows awoke Karin from her sound slumber. She rolled over, unwilling to open her eyes, and waited for her father to burst into the room. When he didn't appear, she cracked an eye open curiously, and it took her a minute to remember where she was and why she wasn't in her room.
"Oh that's right," she realized, feeling like an idiot. "I got married." She didn't feel particularly like a bride though. Weren't brides supposed to wake up the next morning in a glowing haze, lying beside the man of their dreams? Karin scowled. She was still angry about all this.
Climbing out of bed, Karin stretched and went to check out the view. Hitsugaya's description of it as "pretty nice," turned out to be the understatement of the century. The room looked out over the vast garden she had been in last night, which, from her bird's eye view, appeared to be a veritable rainbow. She could see the winding maze made by the hedges and thought what a wonderful place it would be to wander and think. Last night she had been too preoccupied with other things to appreciate it, but today, she had to grudgingly admit that it was incredible.
Adjacent to the garden, Karin saw a small building made of brick. The windows looked horribly filthy, like they were coated with a thick layer of black carbon from way too many candles. An enormous clay vat sat in front and a large chimney was sending plumes of smoke into the sky. Karin wondered what on earth the building could be used for. She thought it might be a kitchen, owing to the amount of smoke coming out of the chimney, but she had never seen a kitchen that looked like that. And surely the windows in a kitchen would be a bit cleaner.
A knock on the door broke into Karin's thoughts.
"Are you awake Karin-sama," came a female voice, and Karin was at least relieved that it wasn't Hitsugaya.
"Yes," she replied. "Come in." A short girl entered. She had a pale face and deadpan eyes, telltale signs of a recent return from the army.
"My name is Nemu, Karin-sama," she introduced herself. "I have been asked to assist you with anything you require." Karin smiled at the girl. She felt tremendous pity for her.
"Thanks, but I don't really need any help. I'm capable of getting dressed on my own. Oh, and please call me Karin."
"Alright Karin-sama," Nemu replied in a monotone, and Karin wondered if she had even heard her. "When you are finished, Hitsugaya-sama requests that you join him for breakfast." Karin suppressed a groan.
"Well, you can tell Hitsugaya-sama that I am not hungry." She turned back to the window.
"As you wish," Nemu replied before bowing herself out. Karin sighed. As bad as her situation was, she had to admit that it was better than the army. Seeing Nemu was a sharp reminder of what awaited her otherwise. She had no desire to end up like that, and wondered vaguely where Matsumoto got her energy. Most girls returned from the army like Nemu, broken and hollow, with no sense of self.
"I suppose life here has to be better than that," she thought with a sigh. Her mind wandered back to the previous evening, and to her new husband. She had been too outraged to do much of anything other than yell when Hitsugaya had approached her in the garden, but now that she looked back on it, she was mildly impressed that he had had the guts to stand up to her like that, especially in the state she had been in. Yet, he hadn't been overbearing, just defensive. His words played again inside her head.
"I'm your husband. Not your master. We're equal partners in this relationship. I can't make you do anything."
"At least he's got that going for him," she thought. But that didn't mean she was ready to meet with him just yet. She decided that she'd spend the day poking around the manor and see what other dirt she could dig up on this man.
"This was his room wasn't it?" she remembered and she looked at the "dragon room" properly for the first time. It was sparsely decorated, but it was still bright and warm. Karin could tell that it had belonged to a young, antisocial, teenage boy. There were bookshelves filled to the brim with books of all shapes and sizes. A collection of intricate and valuable looking swords hung on the wall. She saw a set of metals sitting on a shelf and went over to inspect them. Most of them were for swordsmanship or kendo, but she saw a few labeled "soccer championship."
"He plays soccer?" she thought in amazement. Karin had spent her childhood kicking a ball around in her backyard, but she had never had the opportunity to play formally. She loved the sport though, and often envied those kids who marched down the streets in their fancy uniforms on the way to games.
"So he was one of them," she said aloud. "Lucky rich stiff. I wonder if he still plays."
Satisfied with her inspection of the room, Karin got dressed and left to explore the rest of the house.
It was much brighter in the daytime and, now that she could see, Karin looked at the house appropriately. Each room had enormous bay windows that looked out over the grounds, but again, Karin was shocked by the lack of grandeur. She had been expecting an excessive display of wealth, but, while the house was massive, it was clear that Hitsugaya was no glutton. And in spite of herself, Karin was pleased. She liked the house. It seemed happy and human. Except for the swords. There were swords in nearly every room: long swords, short swords, swords with gems, swords with carvings, double edged, single edged, battle axes, antiques, swords designed for battle and swords strictly for display.
"He's obsessed," she mused, but the thought didn't really bother her so much. She almost thought it was cute. Naw, that couldn't be.
After several hours, Karin finally made her way out of the house and into the garden. She took her time strolling along, allowing the sound of the birds and the smell of the flowers to fill her senses. Everything seemed brighter in here. The trees were a little greener, the birds' song was a little clearer, and the water in the ponds and fountains reflected the light from the sun just a little bit more brilliantly than normal. There were flowers in more colors than she had ever imagined and even some that she didn't know existed. It was almost magical.
"How does he do it?" she wondered.
She heard voices in the distance and followed them. Turning the corner at a large bush with fluffy yellow flowers, she discovered two gardeners hard at work.
"Hi," she greeted them as she approached. They stopped their tilling and looked at her.
"Oh, you must be Karin-sama!" one exclaimed in haughty voice.
"Che," the other scoffed. "Yumichka, you don't have to be so nice to someone who hates Hitsugaya-sama so much."
"But Ikkaku," Yumichka pouted. "She is still the mistress of the house now. It's not beautiful to be rude to her."
"Speaking of being rude," Karin cut into their conversation, "I am standing right here."
"It's a pleasure to meet you!" Yumichka said, bowing with a small flourish. "I'm Yumichka, the co-head gardener. My other co-head over there is Ikkaku, but I'm afraid he's not in a wonderful mood at the moment."
"Oi," Ikkaku threatened. Karin stifled a laugh and Ikkaku glared at her.
"You think something's funny?" he glowered.
"Yes I do!" Karin stated. "I think it's funny that a macho man like you is a gardener." Now it was Yumichka's turn to laugh as Ikkaku turned bright red.
"There's nothing embarrassing about the work I do!" he defended himself. "I'm in charge of all the physical labor, you know, the planting and hoeing and structural maintenance. It's much harder than it looks! Yumichka over there takes care of all the girly stuff like flower arranging."
"I take pride in my work," Yumichka retorted, sticking his nose in the air. "Someone like you couldn't possibly understand the subtleties involved in the art of gardening."
"You two did this?" Karin asked, clearly impressed. "I've got to say, I've never seen anything so incredible in my life. It's like a fairy tale." Yumichka looked like he was going to faint.
"Oh, thank you, thank you, Karin-sama," he gushed, ringing her hand. "It feels so good to hear you say that." Ikkaku merely scoffed.
"Compliment or no, I still don't like you girl," he huffed. "Where do you get off hitting Hitsugaya-sama like that? He's a good kid, he doesn't deserve that."
"It's kind of a long story," Karin mumbled noncommittally. She was not in the mood to explain herself. "So, about this garden," she offered, hoping they would take up the change in topic.
"Ah, Hitsugaya-sama loves it in here," Yumichka said dreamily. "He says he needs the fresh air and the beauty of nature to contrast all the soot and darkness."
"Soot and darkness?" Karin asked confused. Yumichka didn't seem to understand her question.
"Yes of course," he replied.
"But why…?" she began, but Ikkaku cut her off.
"Oi, oi, how long are you going to keep distracting us?" he intoned. "We've got work to do."
"Oh yes, we must get these snapdragons planted before they begin wilting. I think they will accent the white jade bush rather nicely don't you?" Karin didn't know the first thing about flower arranging, but she nodded anyway.
"Well then, I'll just leave you to it," she said turning to leave.
"It was nice to meet you Karin-sama," Yumichka chimed.
"Oh, please just call me Karin," she called back over her shoulder. Yumichka gave her a hearty wave, but Ikkaku ignored her entirely.
"What a strange duo," she thought to herself as she walked away. "And that Ikkaku guy really seems to like Hitsugaya. But soot and darkness? What on earth does that mean?"
ooooooooooooooooooo
Karin wandered the garden for a little longer, finally exiting out a different gate than the one she had entered from, and emerging into a clearing facing that strange building with the billowing chimney and dirty windows she had seen from her bedroom. Curiosity peaked, she headed over to it.
As she got closer she noticed two things: an increase in temperature, and a high pitched clinking sound. She passed the large vat outside the entrance, which she saw now was labeled "water" and entered.
It was almost pitch black inside and it took Karin a minute for her eyes to adjust. She felt mildly like she had just entered a torture chamber. The heat in the room hit her like a brick wall and she could feel herself start to sweat. Rows and rows of strange, metallic tools in all shapes and sizes hung on the walls. A rack with more swords than Karin had ever seen in her life, including during her exploration of the house, stood in the corner. A massive furnace was lit in the center, and its dazzling orange glow provided the only light in the room. Several people in various states of filth ran back and forth or hammered on glowing strips of metal.
"Soot and darkness," Karin thought, finally understanding the reference. "It's a blacksmith forge. But why's it here?"
Karin stood in the doorway for a few moments before the workers noticed her presence. Someone nudged a man standing at the furnace. He looked up and had to squint to see who she was, since Karin was in silhouette.
"Who's there?" he called out. Karin stepped inside and the man's face lit up in recognition.
"You're Karin-sama," he exclaimed, coming over to her and wiping his sweaty, tattooed brow on his sleeve, leaving a dark streak of ash in his wake. "What are you doing all the way out here?"
"Just looking," she said with a shrug.
"Well, welcome to the smithy Karin-sama," the man said proudly. "My name's Abarai Renji, and I'm in charge here when Hitsugaya-sama's out."
"Renji," Karin repeated. "It's nice to meet you. Please call me Karin." She was getting sick of saying that. "So, what is this place?"
"Huh?" Renji asked, raising an eyebrow. "Like I said, it's the smithy. We do all the work out here."
"What work?" Karin finally yelled in exasperation. "Why does everyone assume I know this stuff?"
"Uh…" Renji stuttered. "Well, you did marry Hitsugaya-sama, so I guess we just assumed…"
"That I knew him?" she finished his sentence. "Well I don't. I don't know anything about the man."
"It sure seemed like you did," Renji retorted. "I mean, punching him like that…"
"I'm sorry for that ok!" she shouted. "Why does that bother everyone so much?"
"Well, people around here have a lot of respect for Hitsugaya-sama," Renji explained. "He treats us really well. He's really a good guy once you get to know him."
"That's what everyone keeps telling me," Karin thought to herself. "I wonder if it's true."
"So anyway," she continued, "what exactly do you do in this smithy?"
"We make swords," Renji clarified for her. "The Hitsugaya family has been selling top quality swords for generations. Best in the kingdom!" he gloated.
"Wow," Karin said in astonishment. "You made all those?" she asked, indicating the rack of swords. Renji laughed.
"Oh no, Hitsugaya-sama made those. He does all the important stuff personally by hand, all the shaping and details and whatnot. We just do the grunt work, like mixing metals and fixing instruments and such."
"He really does that?" Karin gasped, refusing to believe it. Up until this point, Karin's image of a man who sat around all day, drinking sake in his garden hadn't changed, even if he was the nice guy everyone was making him out to be. But the fact that he spent every day slaving away over a hot furnace to do something as exciting and difficult as sword making; now that was something completely unexpected.
"Can I help?" Karin asked hopefully. She had never worked in a smithy before, but now that she was here, she thought it sounded rather fun. Renji gaped at her.
"You want to what now?" he asked, flabbergasted. "It's…not really work for a lady." Karin chortled.
"I'm not exactly what you'd call 'a lady,'" she said with a smirk. "So, can I help?" Renji seemed at a loss for words, but he finally managed to find his voice.
"Sure. I don't see why not. Come on in, I'll show you the ropes." Renji brought her inside, introduced her around and showed her where everything was.
"Here, this shouldn't be too hard for a beginner," he said, picking up a hammer and a thick spike.
"See this?" he said, indicating the spike. "See how the edge is all chopped up?" It was difficult to see anything in the poorly lit room, but Karin made an effort. She brought the spike close to her face and saw that indeed, it looked like a knife that someone had whacked against a rock a few too many times.
"It's supposed to be straight," he explained. "I need you to heat it up and whack it with the hammer until it's razor sharp again. Think you can handle that?" Karin nodded.
"I'll be right over here. If you need anything, just holler," Renji said before returning to his own work. With that, Karin began her task. It was much more difficult than it looked. The hammer was heavy, the fire was scorching hot, and the thick soot in the air made it difficult to breathe. After just half an hour Karin was soaked through with sweat and was aching all over. And she had barely made a dent in her work.
"He does this all day?" she marveled. "He must be damn strong." As much as she didn't want to admit it, she was impressed. She decided that tonight, she was going to give Hitsugaya the benefit of the doubt and join him for dinner.
Not the most exciting chapter, but every AU story needs some world building. Plus, I felt that Karin needed some time on her own to warm up to Hitsugaya, since I can't picture her doing anything but hitting him again if she met him in the morning without a chance to learn something about him. Again, sorry if it was boring, but I also wanted to give some other characters a little screen time. I also realized that Hitsugaya doesn't make an appearance in this chapter, which I don't think I've ever done before. I promise he comes back in the next chapter when things finally will get exciting again, so please stick with me. Thanks :)
