Ever since he was a young boy, Tōshirō had very strange dreams. He couldn't always remember exactly what happened in them, but he did recall the feeling of being somebody else. It wasn't until he was around four years old that he realized he wasn't a boy in those dreams. Of course anyone would be curious as to what that meant, so he questioned his mother about it, and the word excited didn't quite sum up the expression that quickly overtook her features. She informed him, very enthusiastically, about soulmates. That when asleep one could see life through the other's eyes. She briefly explained how it worked better for soulmates in different time zones, but fate wasn't always so kind. Soulmates weren't always of differing genders or even romantic. Your soulmate could even be a best friend, though the odds of finding your fated match were slim to none.
Tōshirō listened to his mother very patiently and wondered to himself why soulmates were even a thing. It seemed pointless when there wasn't a guarantee you would find them. He didn't feel he needed a soulmate and even told his mother as such. She laughed at him while ruffling his hair and sent him off to school, telling him they would discuss it more later. Though the young boy wasn't sold on the idea of fated pairs and considered his mother might be playing a prank on him, he decided to wait for their conversation instead of worrying about it more.
Unfortunately their talk would never come as his mother was hit by a drunk driver on her way home. Upon her untimely death Tōshirō was sent to live with his aunt and her daughter, Momo Hinamori. His dad on the other hand was having fun living a life somewhere else, off with one of his new arm pieces, wanting nothing to do with his son. He didn't even show up for the funeral, and after 19 years had made no effort to contact Tōshirō in any way. It didn't bother him though, he didn't want anything to do with that scumbag of a man. He hoped his father hadn't been his mother's soulmate, if only for her sake.
After his mother's passing, Tōshirō suddenly wasn't so against the idea of soulmates. At least in his dreams he could live vicariously through the girl he'd never met and watch her interact with her rambunctious family. Though the scenes warmed his heart, it was still jarring at times to see things from another person's perspective. He quickly learned things about her, and would often times write them down in a "dream journal" so as not to forget anything. After all these years of looking through her eyes it seemed strange that he didn't know her name when he knew so many other things about her, he didn't even know her family member's name's either.
He knew she had one older brother, a twin sister, and an easily excitable father. Her mom died only a year after his did, that would at least give them something to talk about he thought sardonically before thinking about if they ever met. The chances of them meeting were slim, he lived in England after all and best he could guess was that she lived in Japan based on a few of the phrases he could pick up (he took a Japanese language elective in Secondary School). Apart from their dead mothers the only other thing they seemed to have in common was their love of soccer (fútbol). In his dreams she was almost always practicing it or playing matches with her friends. He didn't have any friends other than Momo and an older girl called Rukia he went to school with. His soulmate seemed to have a lot of friends, especially in comparison to him.
When Tōshirō was eleven Rukia had left to study abroad, claiming there was nothing keeping her in England. Like him, Rukia had no parents and had only just met her sister and brother-in-law a year prior. Rukia and her new family weren't exactly close yet, and she informed Tōshirō that she felt something calling her to the other side of the world. She told him she would write, and she did, but she wasn't planning on coming back. He had lost hope of ever seeing her again before she snuck her way into one of his dreams two years later, walking in with Tōshirō's soulmate's brother. Had he remembered the next morning he surely would've written her about it, but he just felt like he was missing something, and when he tried to remember all he got was the blurred out face of someone who felt familiar. Even going through his dream journals didn't help, memories were finicky things, especially when fate just wanted to have a little fun.
So here he was, 19 years after his mother's death, standing awkwardly above her gravestone. Now at the ripe age of 23 he wasn't quite sure what to tell her, especially when he knew that more likely than not she wasn't listening to him. Hell! She probably didn't even exist anymore, just vanished along with everybody else off to who knows where when they died. Nevertheless he was still here, trying to find something to tell her. So he told her about the first thing that came to mind, his soulmate. He informed her that he had no intention of ever finding his soulmate, but was slightly thankful he had one anyway, that it was comforting knowing that there was someone out there to complement him. He also told her all about how the mysterious woman unknowingly helped him all these years, about how watching her family interact with each other gave him a sense of belonging that also felt bittersweet.
He also decided to tell her about why he'd been away for so long, apologizing to his mother, and using the military as his excuse for not being able to visit in the past few years. Though at his age she should really be quite proud since he was well on his way to becoming a Captain, working his way quickly up the ranks over the past few years. He was excited to recruit people, as well as manage other soldiers. He told her that it was basically like being a business manager but more fun. Although he wasn't a fan of war and hoped nothing ever happened, he informed his mother that he would still like to provide help to his country. For now though he was just another soldier on the field learning to fight just in case.
Time went by for Tōshirō much faster than he'd previously assumed and left his mother's grave with a promise to visit again soon. Whilst walking home he thought about his soulmate, wondering what she would be up to when she woke up. She helped her father as a nurse, but from what Tōshirō could recall she was planning on leaving, although he couldn't remember where. He knew she recently got a new job that payed a large sum and would help her family out a lot more than their little hospital did. Her sister helped out around the hospital too, he wondered how she could do so much since he also knew she cooked for the family and cut their hair. Though it made sense her twin took on the maternal role as his soulmate seemed to do as little as she possibly could to worry her family. In all the years of his dreams, only once had he remembered her crying.
Shaking those thoughts out of his head, Tōshirō continued to his flat, only stopping to pick up groceries. As soon as he was home he put his food away and called up Momo. She often insisted on checking up on him, and while it was sweet, she also needed to learn to let go in his opinion. Afterwards he made dinner, watched a movie he'd been meaning to for a while, and got ready for bed.
He briefly pondered what his soulmate saw when she was asleep. Did she remember what happened when she woke? Or only certain parts like he did? Does she know he kept a journal? Does him staying up to ponder these things prevent her from waking up on time? Was it because he was pondering these things that he was giving her time to wake up? He sighed, knowing he would never get the answers he wanted. It was always odd seeing the world through her eyes, yet here he was night after night looking forward to falling asleep. With one last check to make sure his alarm was on, he fell into a peaceful slumber.
The light from the sun had woken her up, much like it always did. She never closed her blinds properly, whether it was because she didn't care or it was because she secretly liked waking up like that Tōshirō had no clue. The world was a little blurry before she blinked it into focus and he could faintly hear birds chirping outside. She checked her phone and groaned upon seeing the time, 6 AM... on a Saturday. Regardless of the time she got up and went for a jog which Tōshirō loved. He loved seeing her town and the place she lived, even if he didn't know exactly where she was it still brought him joy. He thought he would be able to guess where she lived when he was younger but it proved no success and now he simply took in her surrounding environment, enjoying the view.
She finished her jog route quickly and took a shower, it was lucky for the both of them that he never remembered those parts by time morning came. In fact all Tōshirō really remembered was jumps in time from different parts of the day, usually the one's that are most important. For example, what he would remember from this dream when he wakes up will be her birthday. She is turning 23 today, so she seemed a little more excited than usual. She put in a smidge more effort than she would normally, pulling her hair up into two buns. Every year both her and her sister would match hairstyles, considering his soulmate didn't want to match anymore than that. Just because they were twins didn't mean they had to dress the same like many people wanted them to when they were younger.
The woman paused to look at her reflection, making sure everything was in place, and ran her hands down her shirt to smooth it out. Next thing Tōshirō knew, they were at her old house and she knocked lightly on the door. In her hands was a present for her sister, from what he could remember it was a new yukata that her sister had been apparently wanting for a while. Usually on their birthdays the girls would go on a sister date before celebrating with the family and it seemed that tradition still rang true as her sister yanked open the door and pulled his soulmate into a bone crushing hug.
She had stayed with their father at home to look after him whilst Tōshirō's soulmate moved out. It was then that her twin said her name and he really tried to keep it in his mind but it was futile, just like every other time he would forget it by time morning came. After their sister date the two girls went back home, and celebrated joyously with their family.
Tōshirō has always been jealous of his soulmate, but he couldn't really blame her for having a more loving family. Sure he had Momo, but he wanted more like the spoiled brat he was. It was then that a familiar woman caught his attention in his soulmate's peripheral vision. Unfortunately he was rudely woken up by his alarm, the last thing he remembered was being on a plane. Perhaps she was traveling somewhere? Well duh, he thought. What other reason would she have to be on a plane. With that Tōshirō got up and ready for the day, the familiar feeling leaving his body.
The next few days passed in a blur, he went to boot camp and trained with his squad, came home, and had dreams about a woman he's never met. She seemed to be in a new place and it felt oddly familiar, though he couldn't quite put his finger on why. He didn't let it bother him too much though. There were multiple places in the world that would probably feel familiar to him, it didn't matter that she lived somewhere else now.
She also had a new job, she seemed to work within the military like he did, though she was still a nurse. Working in her family's shop had come in handy after all these years and it really looked as if she was excelling in her field. He was happy for her, and even felt a little prideful at her accomplishment. He also noticed that wherever she had moved to, the main dialect was English. It gave him hope that he refused to grow, English was spoken in a lot of places after all. The dreams had shifted though, they didn't feel like they had before, more snapshot like if he had to put it into words. It wasn't until the end of the week that all of these new things seemed to matter, suddenly all the pieces falling into place when he accidentally ran into a dark haired woman as he was out getting groceries.
He helped her up, his apology stuck in his throat as he took in the woman in front of him. Here she was, his soulmate, still holding the hand he'd held out to her. Tōshirō could feel the world beneath him shift upon this revelation, her palm in his feeling like a lifeline as the planets aligned. Diseases were cured, crops were bountiful, wars ended, and the world was at peace which meant they were out of a job. His icy blue eyes met her steel grey eyes and suddenly the world started turning again. They both seemed to have had the air knocked out of them, but she was the first to recover, sending a million dollar smile his way, switching the position of their hands so they could shake.
"Hello," She greeted and he couldn't help but be charmed by the slight accent that curved around her words as she spoke, "I'm Karin."
"Hi," He returned, committing her name to memory though he was sure he would never forget it again, "I'm Tōshirō."
I do not own Bleach or any of the characters, the plot and plot convenience are all my own. Thank you for reading, if you enjoyed it please leave a review as it's the only way I survive haha
