Salvation | By : Mirrors1984 Category: Bleach > Het - Male/Female Views: 13169 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 0 |
Disclaimer: I don't own Tite Kubo's Bleach or make any profit from this fic. |
Warning: OCC, Angst, Fluff *gags* I'm really BAD at fluff.
Chapter 19 What should someone do when faced head on with such a problem? Should they tell the other person as soon as possible or handle it by themselves? Tatsuki didn't know what to do. It was like her mind had gone completely blank as the news of her pregnancy washed over her in a confusing wave of fear and a strange sort of elation. The unusual smidge of excitement the news brought her was easily over-powered by her fear, not allowing her to actually get used to the idea of carrying another life inside of her. A life her and Ichigo had created unknowingly. What she had growing so innocently inside her womb was a part of a both of them and proof of what they had done in a moment of desperation. I should have known. We had never used a condom. I never thought of telling him to use one either... She knew why she had never told him to use protection during their sexual encounters. When they let their guards down, giving into lust, neither one of them were capable of coherent thoughts. All they could both think about was joining and finishing together so that the twisted intimacy they had gained could overwhelm them again and again. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that only Ichigo could make her feel that way. If she were with another guy, she doubted that he could make her so careless. Yeah, if it hadn't been Ichigo, she would have definitely remembered a condom. I have to... I have to tell him. Though on the outside she looked determined and confident, on the inside she was crumbling with uncertainty over how to tell him that it was no longer about them anymore. Now a child was dragged into it. Someone that hadn't asked to be created. Someone that shouldn't know what was happening around his or her parents because no child should ever learn that he was conceived by accident. A very negligent move on her and Ichigo's part. Unconciously, her hand lingered on her belly as if she were comforting the small life inside while she walked over to the Kurosaki Clinic. Her hand had been doing that a lot since she had been told of her pregnancy. Just thinking about the child's suffering made her constantly reach out with comfort. It almost made her scoff out loud. Right now he's the size of pea and yet I want to make sure he's okay. Now she could see why Orihime was so enthusiastic and paranoid with her own pregnancy. Knowing that someone else's life depended on her love and body gave her a feeling of disbelief, anxiety and... Pride. It was all too strange a feeling for her. Was it even normal to feel pride at having something new counting on her to live? Bringing and giving life? Shit... It was almost godlike, though she knew about the X and Y chromosomes and how the sperm fertilized the ovum and all of those natural genetic wonders that had to do with Mother Nature. I'm just being stupid. Still rubbing her stomach, she took a deep steadying breath and eyed the glass doors leading into the clinic. She didn't know if she should just go up to his house or go straight to the clinic... What am I freaking thinking?! Going to the clinic?! Its like I'm announcing to his entire family that I'm pregnant before telling him about it! Geez! I might as well get a megaphone to yell it all over the street! Wanting to kick herself because of her not thinking anything clearly since hearing the startling news, she walked away from the glass doors and headed over to the wooden gate leading to the entryway of the house. The mere act of pushing through the gate had her nervousness spike and she almost froze on the open gateway with her eyesight glued to the concrete walkway that ended at his front door, wanting to both flee and go forward. Telling Ichigo was the correct thing to do, yet... She wasn't sure that he could really handle such a responsability. Hell, she didn't know if she couldn't handle it herself. She felt like she was heading off to battle instead of walking to his house! Inwardly battling with what to do, she was surprised by the slow hesitant female voice in front of her, "Tatsuki-chan?" "Huh?!" jerking up her vacant trembling gaze from the ground, she straightened her back at seeing Yuzu, Ichigo's younger sister standing there staring back at her in questioning. Looking at the younger girl now for some reason reminded Tatsuki of how Orihime had been like at that young age. So innocent... But hiding a secret pain. She could see it in Yuzu's large young eyes. There was the slightest moisture of evaporating tears still clinging to her lashes and her sad attempt at a warm welcoming smile was brittle and easily breakable. She's been crying for awhile... "What happened?!" she blurted out and just as those words left her lips Yuzu's eyes filled with fresh tears. Obviously trying to keep herself from breaking down, she sniffed loudly, keeping that unnerving small sad smile on her lips. "Ichi-nii fought with Uryuu-kun..." "What?!" Why the heck would Ichigo fight with Ishida?! What the hell has gotten into him?! "We-we wanted to wait to tell him-," Tatsuki stared at the now lowly sobbing girl in growing disbelief, "bu-but he found out and got so angry at both of us!" Ishida and Yuzu-chan?! She was the one he was seeing?! Yuzu tearfully continued, giving up on hiding how she truly felt, "Dad had to separate them-!" the back of her hand sloppily wiped at the tears over her cheeks, "and Uryuu-kun was knocked unconscious when Ichigo threw him against the wall! I'm-I'm so worried but Ishida-sensei told me that he wants me to stay away from Uryuu-kun so I don't even know how he's doing! And Dad... hasn't talked to me ever since he took Ichigo into the clinic! He told me to stay out...!" Probably unable to speak because of her crying, Yuzu just continued to sob while wrapping her arms around herself, her eyes looking at her almost beseechingly as if she could do or say something to aliviate the problem suddenly thrust at them. How can I tell Ichigo what's going on if this is going on over here?! Damn! Even Ishida's father got mixed up in this! "You said...," Tatsuki swallowed to clear her voice, "he's inside the clinic with Isshin?" Yuzu nodded a bit too eagerly. "Ichi-nii can't stand to look at me! He to-told me when I tried to stop him from hurting Uryuu-kun!" Damn it, Ichigo! Without a good plan or any words to solace for the broken girl, she spun around to run over to the clinic she had been standing so hesitant in front of moments earlier. She was definitely angry at fate's screw up. It was like all of their problems came in groups. Before you could get out of one problem, another one had to rear its ugly head to fuck with what little peace you had left! Luckily the double glass doors to the clinic were unlocked when she burst through them. Already knowing the general layout of the place, she continued her purposeful run towards the short hallway that had three single patient rooms. "-WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN?! YOU KNEW ABOUT THIS AND STILL LET IT HAPPEN?! SHE'S SIXTEEN FOR CRYING OUT LOUD-!" "Ichigo, you really need to calm down. Ishida-" "HOW COULD YOU LET THEM KEEP GOING ON LIKE THIS?! SHE'S YOUR DAUGHTER!" A long sigh followed Ichigo's outraged shouts. "Ichigo..." Pausing in the hallway, she could literally feel ripples of raging energy emanating from the room the yelling came from. Ichigo was obviously still out for Uryuu's blood after discovering the secret relationship. Tatsuki herself was still reeling at the truth, yet she knew Uryuu well enough to say that he wasn't the kind of guy that played around with serious matters. If he dared to go into a relationship with Yuzu and still had enough balls to face a fully pissed off Ichigo in a fight that he couldn't win on equal ground, he was being pretty damned serious. "You know that the legal consent age-" "Fuck the legal consent age! She's still underaged and he's almost twenty already!" "I know! I know!" Even Isshin himself was losing patience with Ichigo's mood. This was like living the past all over again. This time, instead of Orihime's apalling sexual connection with a Hollow, it was Yuzu's relationship with Uryuu. Though Japan did indeed have laws that said that certain ages didn't matter as long as it was consensual, Tatsuki could see why Ichigo was so livid with his younger sister and former classmate. No one, no matter what age, wanted to admit that their younger sibbling was with someone they knew. If Yuzu had been with someone else, Ichigo would have still been protective of her, but not to the point of physical violence like he was now. There weren't any legal grounds to actually stop that relationship because it was allowed by the law. But what about a family's opinion? Could that be what was underneath it all? Family? Maybe he's not mad about them being together... Maybe he's angry because he wasn't told about it. Whatever the case, Ichigo's fit had just created a problem that could have been avoided if everyone had just sat down and spoken like adults. He wanted to continue protecting everyone, but unluckily for him, not everyone needed or wanted protecting. He had made that mistake with Orihime over a year earlier and of course he had done the same with Tatsuki by shutting her out from his double-life of being a high-school student and shinigami. "She should be with a guy her own age or at least someone that's still in high-school!" "Don't be so old-fashioned! Ishida has always been very respectful towards your sister-!" it was evident that Isshin was trying in his hardest to put some lightness into the conversation. Perhaps hoping it would soothe Ichigo's temper. It of course didn't work. "If he respects her so much, then why the heck was his father so surprised when he found out about him and Yuzu?! Can you explain that to me?! If he really wants to be with her like he said he does, he wouldn't be hiding this stuff from everyone! If he had come right out and said it instead of being all embarassed and covering up, I wouldn't have gotten so damned pissed at him! I don't want Yuzu with a coward that doesn't give her place! How long was he planning on keeping this up?!" Isshin remained quiet for the longest time that Tatsuki began to wonder if he even had a reply for Ichigo's snappish words. Might as well go in there and see if I can do anything... Ichigo doesn't seem to be ready to cool off and Yuzu-chan... Crap! Why couldn't this have happened on some other day?!, She felt a bit of guilt at being angry at the situation. Like it was Uryuu's and Yuzu's fault for being caught on the specific day she found out she was pregnant. She felt ashamed because it wasn't like life had perfectly spaced timing. Sometimes things came slowly while in others these things came like a tsunami. This was definitely a tsunami. A couple of problems happening all at once. All disconnected yet having one thing in common. Ichigo. The problems always ended up meeting up with him as if he were a magnet to it all. What will be next...? Forcing all anxiety from her face, she walked as calmly as possible to the room the heated mostly one-sided conversation had been taking place. It wouldn't help if she ran in there ready to crack heads open when Ichigo was wishing to do that himself. What if being too calm is too obvious? What if he notices something is off with me? There was no time to think about that. If he thought something was wrong with her falsely calm demeanor then she could use the shock of Uryuu's and Yuzu's relationship as a good excuse. In fact, she was still surprised about it, though her surprise was shadowed by nervousness at even thinking of telling him the real reason she wanted to see him. When she reached the door, she knocked gently. Far too gently to be heard by the two men inside. Gulping at that, she rapped the door a bit harder and got the desired response. "Hold that there while I see who it is," these words were said lowly by Isshin and at hearing his voice, she straightened her back and tried to smile tentatively before he opened the door. "Tatsuki-chan!" she visibly flinched at the sudden exclamation that burst from the once solemn sounding man. Before she could dodge the grabby Isshin, her body was ingulfed by a pair of strong hairy arms. This guy sure gets over stuff fast! I wonder if half his brain is missing! Because of her unwanted hug attack, she couldn't see Ichigo rising from the stretcher he had been sitting on. "Tatsuki's here?!" "My real third daughter came to visit Papa! You're worth fifty-thousand Ichigos! I can now die a happy man now that you're here pressed to my strong manly chest!" Isshin blubbered happily, rubbing his cheek against the spiked hair on the top of her head as she twitched in annoyance. "Would you cut it out, Dad?! No female in her right mind would want her face anywhere near your chest!" "You're just jealous-!" "Just shut up and let go of her already! Can't you see she doesn't like it?!" She was relieved when Isshin finally released her from his uncomfortable hold. If things had been different, she would have slugged him for surprising her like that, but at present she was still numbed by all that was taking place. "You're a cruel son!" the older man pouted angrily, thankfully a safe distance from her. Finally able to see the damage done on Ichigo, she winced inwardly at seeing that even though Uryuu had been outmatched by Ichigo's size and shinigami fighting skills, he had still taken a fair amount of blows in the fight. Ishida must have really let loose. One of his eyes was nearly swollen shut in a purpling bruise and from the waddled up gauze pressed to his equally swollen nose, Tatsuki had a feeling that his nose had actually been broken at some point during the fight. From what she could see of Ichigo's skinned reddened knuckles, Uryuu had to have been thoroughly pummeled himself. She didn't even want to imagine the shape the Quincy was in. Must have been really bad if his father had to take him out the clinic... "I think...," her gaze landed on the sulking Isshin, "I think you should go outside with Yuzu," his childish pout began to dissipate. "She really needs someone right now..." At the mention of Yuzu's name, tension began to grow in the room and she guessed that most of that tension came from Ichigo himself as Isshin that nodded gravely at her suggestion left them, probably as uncomfortable about the situation as they were. After hearing the glass doors of the clinic opening and closing, she forced her eyes to stare directly at the silent Ichigo that valiantly stared back at her. He could tell she was upset with his attitude towards his sister. He should know by now that his sister was not only torn up by the fight between him and Uryuu but by the fact that he didn't want to be anywhere near her. "Mind telling me what happened?" she asked as calmly as she could muster. "You know everything," was all he said. "Yeah," she crossed her arms and raised a brow at him, "and I'm sure at least half of Karakura does too since you took the fight to the middle of the street." He grimaced, either from actual pain or embarassment, maybe both, because with a battered face any physical expression would be pure torture. "I just... I just didn't like seeing them together like that..." she closed her eyes almost defeatedly at his whispered words. It was all repeating itself... He had lashed out similarly a year earlier. He had even yelled and cursed at Orihime at the high-school's rooftop when she had admitted to willingly giving her virginity to his inner Hollow. At that time he hadn't taken into consideration how sensitive Orihime was to such crude words directed towards her. It had taken Tatsuki about forty minutes to talk her out of her crying because of his insults. For crying out loud! He had practically called Orihime a whore in front of their school! Ichigo wasn't precisely discreet when gripped by rage. He'd usually let everybody know he was pissed. "Why should you be upset by this, Ichigo?" she didn't need to open her eyes to know that he was gaping at her. "Isn't it normal for me to be upset?! Yuzu's never even had a boyfriend or gone on dates before and now I find out that she's been secretly going out with Ishida for months?! I didn't even know she was working with him in that sewing side bussiness of his until I punched him a couple of times! Why shouldn't I be pissed at them-?!" "Ichigo!" she interrupted him, snapping her eyes open to see his fuming face. His lips pressed into a thin line at her reprimanding tone, but she really had to stop him before he continued with the same screw ups he had already committed in the past. "You really need to hear all sides of a story before starting fights like this!" he opened his mouth to argue, but she continued onward, "Remember what happened last time! You can't protect everyone and not everyone needs protecting! There's only one you! You can't take it all on!" "But she's still a kid!" "She might still be a kid for a lot of things, but she's old enough to choose who she wants to be with! And to be honest, Yuzu is a lot more mature than most people our age! Haven't you noticed that she's practically been a housewife since she was six, cleaning up and cooking after all of you?! She's been taking care of all of you instead of having a regular social life!" Whatever arguments Ichigo had lined up to counter her died on his lips before he could voice any of them; because it was all true. His little sister had been doing the work of two people since a young age. Closing his one unwounded eye, his chin lowered to his chest almost as if shamed by what she had just told him. "You don't understand... I don't want her to get hurt..." The anger she had felt began to wane as her rigid posture relaxed. "He won't hurt her. He isn't the type...," he scoffed at her intuitive revelation. Lowering her arms to her sides, she told him what she knew, deeply hoping it would make him more accepting of what he had discovered, "I can tell because of the way he talks about her." His wide eyes looked at her, "You knew about this too?!" "Now don't start arguing with me! I knew about him seeing someone, I just didn't know who that someone was!" she wasn't in the mood to deal with one of Ichigo's 'nobody-tells-me-anything' tantrums. His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed harshly. "And what does he say about her?" "That he loves her so much that he's scared of losing her. He was even depressed at the thought of not being with her." The few times her and Uryuu had briefly spoken of his relationship, he had let that much be clear. She had noted that he was desperate to tell anybody about his lover, yet something seemed to be holding him back. Yuzu-chan must have told him not to tell anybody because of Ichigo., her eyes widened as the realization hit her. Uryuu hadn't been cowardly in his part, but respecting his lover's own wishes. Yuzu didn't appear to want to upset her already depressed older sibbling, so she must have told him to remain quiet. Uryuu would have told Ichigo from the begining if it hadn't been for that. "He should have told me-" "Yuzu told him not to," she quickly cut him off. "What?" "Don't ask me how I know all of this," she made a face, because it was yet another one of those occasions in which she knew something without being told. "Just know that Ishida isn't playing with Yuzu-chan and would have told you as soon as he started seeing her." A familiar tremble in Ichigo's eyes let her know that he was heavily weighing what she had said. "I've... I've messed up again, haven't I?" lowering his head once more, he hid his tortured eyes from her. "I think anyone would have reacted the same-" he shook his head at her reasoning. "No, I keep messing up because I don't bother to know this stuff about my own family. I can't believe that after being here for a while, I hadn't figured out that Yuzu was working with Ishida... I've spent so much time in my room ignoring everybody and their routines that I hadn't noticed it. For all I know Karin probably has a boyfriend herself and it totally flew past me." "She did have a boyfriend, but she dumped him a couple of months before you came back here," she smirked wryly when he chuckled. "I'm totally hopeless," though there was a smile in his voice, he still sounded somewhat dejected. "You can't help it. You're barely learning how to handle this stuff...," her words trailed off when he looked at her. "I would have a tougher time if it weren't for you showing me how to..." Why did her breathing stop every time Ichigo said anything that made her feel important to him? She wanted to be important to him. More than just a friend, but something he needed and couldn't live without, because she felt like she couldn't live without him as it was. He was far more important to her than he imagined. He had become a permanent center to her every thought and now with a child... "You shouldn't rely so heavily on me. You're learning a lot of this by yourself. I'm just here reminding you that you have it in you," embarrassed by his earlier words, she looked away from him, still debating about telling him about the baby or keeping it to herself until he saw that she was pregnant. I'll have to tell him someday... "You're hiding something from me," his voice was close and she stiffened, fully aware that he had seen through her facade. "How can I hide anything from you, when you already know everything there is to know about me?" she whispered apprehensively, privately praying that he wouldn't see the truth in her attitude change. "Whatever. If you're not ready to tell me, then fine. We have plenty of time so there's no rush. Just let me...," she let out a breath of relief when his hands gently grabbed her hips to pull her towards him. It wasn't sex he was looking for, but the fact that he was looking for a form of contact in his awkward wordless manner relaxed her when otherwise she would have snapped asking what the hell was his problem. Letting Ichigo search for comfort by allowing him to wrap his strong arms around her, she closed her eyes. "You give me so much. Just felt you needed to hear that..." she shivered wanting to blurt it all out. "Don't sell yourself short," she tried to sound tough, "You still have no idea how much you give to me...," a soft scoff left him as his arms tightened so that the front of her body was pressed comfortably against his strong long one. No. Right now is definitely not the right time to tell him. *** All was quiet in the house for once, though that didn't bode well with Ichigo that was accostumed to the lively loudness that was natural in the Kurosaki household. He knew that the near impenetrable silence had stemmed from his thoughtless actions moments earlier. He had yet to go inside the house to apologize to his sister for his violent reaction to Uryuu's visit. My sister... is growing up. I shouldn't be surprised that she has someone... I was still in high school when Rukia and I were a couple and to be honest, Rukia is way older than I am-Shit!, Cringing at how his logic made his earlier ourage seem hipocritical, he swore under his breath. Fisting his untameable hair, he glared at the concrete beneath him. He was procrastinating going inside the house, opting to sit on the front doorstep with the large oak front door wide open behind him. It was as if he liked torturing himself by wanting an opening he didn't desire to use. His slouched shoulders, his beaten face and the open door were ironically simbolic to him for some reason. It was nearly laughable. When all things were said and done, he was still a coward in the end. He was well aware that he was wrong for judging Yuzu and Uryuu, but he didn't want to face up to it just yet. He should do it out of respect and love for his sister, but like always, he was afraid of facing someone he had wronged with another one of his many screw ups. Yuzu, though still too young, was very firm about her relationship with Uryuu. He had seen it in the deeply hurt betrayed look in her eyes when he had yelled at her during the fight. His sister hadn't needed him to champion her. What she needed from him was acceptance, not another fight with yelling and half-said truths. To this day, after so many trials and errors, he hadn't learned how completely see into a person. He couldn't even tell when his sister was safe or in trouble... "Seeing you out here all alone tells me that Tatsuki-chan must have gone home already, huh," hearing the flat voice of his other sister, he glanced up to see Karin staring down at him. "Yeah... She was in a hurry to see Inoue about something." "Oh." Blinking up at his sister that never seemed to change in personality, always with her dry remarks and no-nonsense expressions, he just had to ask," Did you know about Yuzu and Ishida?" Now it was her turn to blink at him in surprise. "Well, no... But I suspected something... Why? Did something happen?" the tiniest hint of alarm entered her tone, confirming what Ichigo had thought. Karin hadn't known about it. So Tatsuki was right about Yuzu not wanting anybody to know. She would never hide anything from Karin even if she had sworn to the other person. I know at least that much. "Nothing much other than Yuzu and Ishida dating behind everybody's backs for nearly eight months," he tried to make it come off as a joke, the fake faint smile on his face hurting due to his bruising. "Huh?! You're shitting me, right? Yuzu and Ishida?! She's seriously dating that guy?!" giving a gaping Karin a solemn nod, he instinctively scooted over on the step he was sitting on to give his stunned sister some room to sit beside him. "I can't believe it..." she breathed dumbly once she was sitting by his side. "I didn't want to believe it myself, but it still happened...," he sighed beside her, his eyes staring blankly at the stretching concrete walkway stretching out ahead of them. "Geez! I had asked a hundred times why she kept spending the night at that Aiko girl's house and she always told me that it was near Ishida's place which it made it easier for her part-time job with him-" Sharply looking at her, he snapped coming fully alert at what she was saying, "Wait! Are you telling me that Yuzu has spent the night there?!" She stared back at him in annoyance, "I didn't say that, Ichigo. I just think that its kind of weird that she liked spending the night over there so much with him living so close by!" "So she stayed at that girl's house so she could be alone with him!" he was already begining to lose it again. Next time I see Ishida, I'll make sure to kill him! "Since when have you been so uptight?" His jaw dropped. "Isn't it natural to feel weird at finding out that your sister might be having...," his face reddened furiously at what he was about to say in front of the scowling Karin that technically was still a kid in his eyes, "sex..." the word came out in a cough, "with a guy you went to class with?" "No, not really, but that's just me talking," she shrugged, "compared to us kids you guys are pretty old." "Hey!" She smirked half-heartedly at his offended exclamation. "Ichigo, believe it or not, we have had sex ed classes, watched naughty r-rated movies and read some shojo manga before. All girls do that," he started to really hack up cough storm at her startling revelation as she watched him dully, not the least bit shocked at his downright allergic reaction. Whoever has corrupted my little sisters like this is going to die! "Old goat chin even got me a whole collection of shojo when I turned fifteen, did you know that? I don't think he even knew what half that stuff was about probably seeing pretty pictures on the covers. You know how innocent and girly all of those bishojos look. Anybody could think a manga with a big-eyed cartoon girl in a school uniform can't be evil but those things can get pretty crazy to read after a couple of volumes depending on how fast paced it is-" Slowly processing all that information, he half-shouted still wheezing slightly from his coughing fit, "Dad did what?! How long have you been reading that stuff?!" "Relax," she glared at him. "You make it sound like its the end of the world." "Bu-but-!" "Being sixteen doesn't make us idiots." He promptly closed his mouth. Sighing, seeing that he was finally giving up, she readjusted the baseball cap that appeared to be a permanent part of her since he could remember. Through all the years, he'd always seen his sister use the same styled cap. Whenever she outgrew or even lost one, she would buy one that looked exactly like it. It was either out of habit or because the first hat, the original one, had actually been a gift from their mother. As if thinking of their mother at the precise moment she touched the cap, a soft smile lifted her lips as she looked distantly at the same listless spot he had been staring at seconds prior, like she was thinking of something painful yet bittersweet. A memory of a time she wished she could keep but couldn't have anymore. "Without Mom around, we've had to find out about most girl things on our own. Being a girl without a mother to explain things is not the same as for guy. That crazy Dad of ours has tried really hard though, so I can't hold it against him... A bunch of other fathers would have given up already, but he's so damned stubborn that he keeps trying to fill in for her whenever we're confused about something we can't figure out on our own." He swallowed, understanding what she letting him know. All this time I've thought I was the one missing Mom the most, but Yuzu and Karin still need her. "But you know that don't you, Ichigo?" he paled when she looked at him. "That we're all trying the best we can with what we already have?" His brows trembled. Trying the best we can with what we already have..., What was she trying to tell him with this? That there was nothing missing within him like he had first thought? That he had everything he needed and all he had to do was try harder? "I think I do...," he finally said lamely, still a bit shocked by his sister, his younger sister's, maturity. "You can be such an idiot," she snorted as he shifted awkwardly at the insult without commenting on it because as much as it pissed him off, she was so right about him being completely clueless. "Man, you're really lucky to have Tatsuki-chan helping you understand what it means to be one of us again." "What?" he hadn't once thought that anyone in his family had figured out the real reason behind Tatsuki's visits. Giving his a sideways glance that almost said 'Are you really that dense?', she explained flatly, "How to be one of us again. You think we all haven't noticed that something has been bugging you for a long time. I mean...," she paused as if unwilling to continue,"before you used to hide it better but a couple of months before you left for Tokyo, you hadn't bothered to keep it in anymore." "I...I...," he didn't know what to say to that and Karin wasn't surprised. "Ichigo... we're your family. When something is wrong with one of us, all of us can tell. That's what a family is supposed to do." I hadn't realized that they were always watching me, probably waiting for me to reach out for their help. This whole time, they'd been just waiting for me to ask them..., Guilty over learning that during a long-delayed conversation with one of the youngest members of his family, he quickly adverted his eyes. "I am pretty lucky, aren't I?" he grinned weakly, still not looking at her. "Damn right you are, though I think Tatsuki-chan is the one that deserves all the credit for making you stop acting like a total dumbass." Instead of snapping at her, he chuckled dryly. "You're finally learning for once." "And what would I happen to be learning?" he asked without really expecting a good answer because he had mainly asked to humor her mature moment. "Do I have to tell you everything?" the annoyed edge on her voice made him smile because it was so Karin-like. He shot her a half-humored glance. "You're finally learning what it means to be just another human," his smile faded at her factual statement. Another human..., His sister's simple words unknowingly answered so many of the questions he had been asking himself for the last couple of years. What he had been missing was what he was living in that moment sitting down with his sister having a conversation. Knowing the people around him, sharing with them, taking an interest in what they wanted, knew and really honestly needed. "Just another human, huh?" he asked quietly, feeling as if a one of the numerous veils shielding his sight had been lifted. ***Replies here! (yes this link DOES work, unlike the others): http://justjournal.com/users/mirrors/entry/29218
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