#ah Bucket (my sister) and I have been reading through the manga | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ariadnekurosaki · 3 years

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HitsuKarin 💚🖤 either SFW or NSFW whichever you prefer. Karin seeing Adult Tōshirō for the 1st time? XD or something similar...

We're going SFW for this one, because once my brain finally started percolating on this it went straight to Deathberry Family and the events of "Bittersweet". This story takes place during the same timeframe.

Old Friends

Rating: G

Pairings: HitsuKarin; IchiRuki

Read below or on AO3.

“Don’t say it,” Karin warned with a low growl.

“I think Captain Hitsugaya’s taller than you are!” Rukia exclaimed with an unrepentant grin. “He’s gotten handsome, too, hasn’t he?”

“I told you not to say it!” Karin whispered harshly.

But Karin’s sister-in-law just laughed, even though she was propped up on a heavily-padded chaise in the courtyard and heavy with her second – and much more difficult – pregnancy. A stack of manga from Karin’s shopping in Karakura was piled up on the end table beside the chaise, an entire series worth of tankobon that Karin thought Rukia might like.

After all, it wasn’t like Soul Society had television (a serious drawback, in Karin’s opinion), and Rukia was on bed rest. When Ichigo had gotten a message to her asking if she’d help Rukia out and keep her company for a few weeks, she’d put in for vacation time at her job and gotten not just permission to come through a senkaimon but a personal escort.

From a man she hadn’t seen in years and almost didn’t recognize.

Ignoring Rukia’s snickering, Karin sprawled out over the padded bench in the little grove of weeping pines. She grabbed for one of the tankobon and glanced up at Rukia. “Let me know if you need anything, okay? Ichi-nii told me you’re not allowed to do anything strenuous. And Yuzu made a tonof food, so that includes cooking!”

“Your brother is exaggerating just a little,” Rukia muttered, but she took a sip from the glass of water that Karin had retrieved for her. “I’m still allowed to get up and walk around in my own home. I did miss Yuzu’s cooking, though,” she said wistfully.

Karin knew that she missed Yuzu, too, but her sister had three kids to take care of, and her husband had freaked out so badly the one time they’d told him about his in-laws that Rukia had needed to modify the guy’s memory.

“Hn. Still.” Karin opened the manga volume in her hands to the first page, but really it was an excuse to think about what had happened the day before, hopefully without her sister-in-law noticing.

“Ah! Kurosaki-san,” Urahara greeted enthusiastically, ever-present fan fluttering to create a breeze in the spring warmth. “I’m told your escort will be here momentarily.”

Karin adjusted the enormous backpack she wore. She’d filled it with lots of tankobon to give to Rukia, who – according to Ichigo’s message – was bored out of her mind during her medical leave. Her sister-in-law still loved to read some of the trashier manga on the market.

In one hand she carried a second bag, this one full of Yuzu’s home-cooked food. “Am I going to be able to take all this stuff to Soul Society?” she asked skeptically. “Ichigo said you’re able to convert stuff. If I don’t give all this food to Rukia, Yuzu’s going to be really mad.”

Urahara chuckled behind his fan. “Of course, Kurosaki-san, of course. I’m sure Rukia-chan is looking forward to it.”

The senkaimon structure before them glowed suddenly and a tall figure in the black shinigami uniform and a white haori – a captain’s uniform, Karin knew – stepped forward. Her ability to sense reiatsu and reiryoku was still limited even decades later, but Karin recognized it just the same. His figure was much taller and his face more chiseled, his hair neater.

His eyes, though. She knew that cerulean color, even though she hadn’t seen it since Ichigo and Rukia’s wedding reception almost twenty years earlier. And hadn’t that been awkward? “Toshiro?” she asked quietly.

“Karin.” His voice was just a hair deeper than it had been years ago. But she shouldn’t have been surprised: he had to be almost fifty centimeters taller than he’d been when she was a kid. She was much shorter than him, her head just reaching the top of his shoulder. His eyes raked over her. “You’re… different.”

“So are you,” she shot back. “It’s been almost twenty years, you know.” Still, she felt self-conscious in the plain jeans and old football jersey she wore, a relic of time spent playing on a team in the Nadeshiko League. She’d been retired from playing professionally for a few years, but the dark green jersey was comfortable. Still, Karin knew what he saw: a woman grown, no longer the gangly teenager she’d been. A few strands of white stood out against her black hair, now that she was in her thirties. And she had a figure even more voluptuous than it had been when they’d hung out at her brother’s wedding and he’d acted like a weirdo because she’d gotten taller than him in the four years since they’d last seen one another.

Well, she guessed height wasn’t a problem anymore.

She was conscious, suddenly, of the way Urahara watched them, expression hidden by his stupid bucket hat and fan. The black cat beside him looked way too interested, too.

“Hn. I guess it has been. Time… moves a little differently in Soul Society,” Toshiro admitted quietly.

“Guess so,” she agreed. “Anyway, I need to get all this stuff to Rukia-nee. My brother’s beside himself about her.” Then she eyed him with a touch of suspicion. “Enough to send a captain to get me, but not enough to come get me himself.”

Toshiro folded his arms across his chest; his shoulders were broader; she could tell even though he was wearing those bulky shinigami robes. “Ichigo is running their division without Rukia or their third seat right now and he’s swamped. He asked me to escort you as a favor, so they wouldn’t have to worry.”

“Is there a reason to worry?” Karin asked, absently allowing Urahara to take her backpack and bag of food so that he could pass it through his converter. Something about the set of Toshiro’s lips, the way his shoulders tensed, told her it was more than just Ichigo being busy that had him sending a captain instead of a subordinate.

Toshiro’s lips thinned into a grimace. “Maybe. Are those done, Urahara?” he asked.

“All set, Hitsugaya-san,” Urahara said cheerfully. Karin reached for the pack he held out and shrugged it over her shoulders, but Toshiro grabbed for the tote bag full of food before she could. “Kurosaki-san, please let your brother and Kuchiki-san know that if there is anything I can do to help, I will.”

“Thanks,” she muttered. Karin wasn’t sure what the shopkeeper could do about Rukia’s pre-eclampsia – she didn’t even know until Ichigo got his message to her that shinigami could get pre-eclampsia – but she guessed that Rukia and Ichigo might appreciate the sentiment.

“Good,” Toshiro said gruffly, and with a thought summoned a pair of dark butterflies. At Karin’s inquiring look he explained, “Hell butterflies. They guide us between the worlds, so we don’t get lost.”

“Oh.” Ichigo and Rukia – and Sumiye, when they brought her – always walked a good distance away from the house since Yuzu’s husband wasn’t in the know. Karin had the presence of mind to bow shallowly to Urahara. “Thanks,” she said quietly, and followed Toshiro – and the butterfly – through the senkaimon. Her body seemed lighter as she stepped through; she hadn’t felt anything like that in years.

After all, Ichigo and Rukia almost always came to Karakura, rather than asking the Kurosaki family to make the trip through a senkaimon.

This trip was shorter than she’d remembered; it seemed like it only took a moment before they were stepping through an enormous pair of white doors. “Welcome back to Soul Society,” Toshiro said in that low voice of his. “I’ll escort you to Kurosaki’s home. It’s…”

“Near the Kuchiki Manor, I know,” Karin finished. “I visited when Sumiye was born.”

The Tenth Division Captain shot a look in her direction. “I didn’t know you’d been back since the wedding,” he said after a long moment of silence. They walked through the archway that led down into the Seireitei proper, and Karin followed him through the winding streets that led towards the manor, and the home Ichigo and Rukia shared.

“Just a couple times,” Karin admitted. She glanced in his direction. “I thought you said time moves differently in Soul Society. Ichigo and Rukia look like they’ve barely aged a day in twenty years except that Ichigo grew his hair out, but you look…older.” She caught onto the way he stiffened beside her, and added, “you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

“It’s related to my bankai,” Toshiro admitted after a long moment of silence that settled awkwardly between them. But he glanced at her furtively when he said it, as though there was more to it than that.

They reached the pretty home that Rukia and Ichigo had called theirs for close to twenty years, and Karin trotted up the steps to the front door eagerly. Toshiro followed, carrying the heavy tote of food along with him.

A servant bearing the Kuchiki crest answered the door, bowing low and ushering them into the house. “Welcome, Kurosaki-san, Captain Hitsugaya. Captain Kuchiki is in the courtyard,” she explained softly. “Is there anything I can take for you?”

“Yeah, that bag.” Karin gestured at the bag Toshiro still held. “It has meals in it for Rukia. Can you put everything away so it doesn’t spoil?”

“Of course, Kurosaki-san,” she murmured, and took the bag from the captain. “Please don’t hesitate to let me know if you need anything. I will be here until early evening.”

She directed them to the engawa and then into the courtyard, where Rukia waited on a comfortable-looking lounge chair, an all too knowing smirk on her lips. “Karin,” she greeted, “Toshiro.”

“Rukia,” Toshiro acknowledged his fellow captain in return, while Karin hurried forward and leaned down to wrap her arms around her sister-in-law. She was so petite that her body was already heavy with her pregnancy, lower stomach rounded and cheeks fuller.

“Thanks for coming to keep me company,” Rukia murmured, arms wrapped tight around Karin’s back and shoulders. “You have no idea how boringit is to be stuck here with nothing to do. Your brother barely even lets me look over paperwork!” Then she looked up at them both. “Please, sit – Miura-san will bring us something to drink.”

“You’re not supposed to be reviewing paperwork on medical leave,” Toshiro reminded her as he lowered himself onto a bench shaded by weeping pines. Karin took the other half of the padded seat, and glared daggers when Rukia shot her another significant look.

Ignoring the look entirely, Rukia smiled easily at them both, one hand rubbing light circles over her swollen stomach. “Ichigo should be home soon. He promised to leave the division early today so that we can have dinner together.”

“Is he really having that much trouble keeping up?” Toshiro asked.

“Ordinarily it wouldn’t be a problem. But Sentaro’s still recuperating in the Fourth Division,” Rukia explained. “And our Sixth Seat just went on medical leave too. So, we’re stretched thinner than usual.” She glanced between them and added quietly, “And there’s that… experiment of Kurotsuchi’s, as well.”

Toshiro’s scowl was so fierce that Karin had to stop herself from edging away from him. “I still don’t understand why the Captain-Commander has allowed it,” he grumbled, smoothing his expression when Miura stepped into the courtyard with a tray of drinks. She set a glass of juice down at Rukia’s elbow and offered two others to Karin and Toshiro.

“Please have a glass ready for my husband when he returns,” Rukia requested politely. Miura left with a little bow at Rukia’s nod of dismissal.

Karin sipped cautiously, then more enthusiastically: it was strawberry-kiwi, one of her favorites – and one of Ichigo’s favorites as well. “Isn’t Kurotsuchi the weird one who wears all the face makeup?” she asked after a while.

“Hn. That’s one way to describe him,” Toshiro agreed.

“Genocidal crackpot is another. Hey, Toshiro.”

Karin looked up to see her brother, still in his uniform and with his lieutenant’s badge wrapped around his bicep, standing in the grove. She hadn’t even seen him enter the courtyard. “Ichi-nii!” she called, and hurriedly put her glass down before rising to wrap her arms around him. He smelled of sweat and dust, and ink.

Ichigo gave his little sister a squeeze and ruffled her hair, ignoring the moue of irritation she gave him. “Hey, Karin. Thanks for coming to stay with us a while,” he said. When he let go of her it was to lean down and brush his lips against Rukia’s, chaste and gentle. “Holding up?” he asked in a low murmur, one hand resting feather-light on her stomach.

“I’m fine and you’re still worrying too much,” Rukia retorted, but her fingers threaded into his hair to keep him close for another kiss.

Karin glanced away, suddenly feeling like she was intruding on something private, and looked toward Toshiro instead. There was a faint but telltale pink hue to his cheeks, and when he caught her looking at him, he rolled his eyes dramatically.

“They’ve been like that the whole pregnancy,” Toshiro muttered when she sat back down beside him. “But your brother’s only gotten worse since Rukia had to go on leave a few weeks ago.”

“Heh. You’ll be just as bad if you ever get married.” Ichigo sprawled on the bench closest to Rukia, fingers threading through hers. He glanced between Karin and Toshiro, and exchanged a look with his wife. “Why don’t you stay for dinner, Toshiro? Miura says Yuzu sent enough food for an entire division.”

The white-haired captain cleared his throat. “I don’t want to intrude,” he said slowly. “I know you haven’t seen Karin for a long time.”

“And you haven’t seen her in even longer,” Rukia pointed out brightly. “We can all catch up together. And Sumiye is less surly when we have company.”

“Che. She’s just mad because Byakuya an’ me won’t let her train with Kenpachi,” Ichigo grumbled.

“Alright,” Toshiro said, and glanced at Karin. “I wouldn’t mind eating something other than food from the barracks, for once.”

Karin willed her cheeks not to turn pink. She thought she’d gotten over her little childhood crush years ago. She was in her thirties, the idea that she could still have any sort of feelings for a man she hadn’t seen in two decades was ridiculous.

Toshiro was just an old friend, someone who’d helped her win a soccer game and fight off some hollows back when she barely knew what the things were. She was just catching up with an old friend.

But when he offered his hand to help her up from the bench so they could go inside for dinner, Karin’s heart gave a traitorous flutter.

#hitsukarin #toshiro x karin #ichiruki #ichigo x rukia #bleach fanfiction #deathberry family

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