5 Growing up is hard
On a small island in the vast ocean, a town had up of a few hundred Japanese styles building can be seen. In one of these buildings, laughing and singing could be heard celebrating something.
?????: "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOSHIRO/SHIRO-CHAN!"
Toshiro: "Thank you, Mom, Dad. And thank you for coming Mr. and Mrs. Matsumoto." he said bowing his head slightly, "And Rangiku-nee, I told you to stop calling me that!" he yelled at the little redhead.
Rangiku: "Hahaha! No way! Your too cute for a name like Toshiro, so your Shiro-chan!"] she laughed, causing Toshiro's brow to tremble. "SEE! too cute!" she turned to the adults while pointing at his brow.
Toshiro: "I. AM. NOT. CUTE." see said deadly seriously. Unfortunately, his five-year-old body wasn't able to portray his seriousness and only ended up looking cute.
Seeing their interaction, the adults chuckled to themselves. It had been five years since Toshiro had reincarnated, and today was his fifth birthday. It was a pretty big deal for Toshiro, as it meant he was finally old enough to enter the Shinigami Academy. Toshiro didn't quite understand how, but everyone in this village seemed to either be a shinigami, or the relative of one.
A lot had happened in the last five years for Toshiro, but probably the most impactful/annoying had been meeting the daughter of his parents' friends, Rangiku Matsumoto. Different from bleach cannon, Rangiku was only 3 years older than Toshiro, but that somehow made her even more annoying.
Toshiro: 'How did this even happen to me' he sighed to himself.
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{Flashback 3 years}
Toshiro's Mom: "Come on Toshiro, we are going to go meet some of mommy and daddy's friends." Toshiro's mother called
Toshiro: "Eh, but I don't want to" he complained
Toshiro's Mom: "Ara ara~ already entering your rebellious faze are we?" she asked sending a shiver down Toshiro's spine.
Toshiro: "N-no ma'am!" he cried while doing a military salute, "But dad said he was going to show me his zanpakuto today."
Toshiro's Mom: "Oh did he~? Honey, is it true you were planning on showing little Toshiro something dangerous even though we already have plans~?" she asked the man standing to her side who was now shaking as the blood drained from his face.
Toshiro's Dad: "N-No, he must have misheard something!" he cried out.
Toshiro's Mom: "Oh, so now you're calling my little Toshiro a liar~?" she asked as an illusion of a demon mask formed behind her, "Sounds like someone needs some punishment~," she said as she dragged Toshiro's father away by the collar into another room.
Toshiro's Dad: "N-n-now darling, l-lets be reasonable here," were the last things that could be heard before cries of pain echoed through the village.
Toshiro's Mom: "Now let's get going Toshiro," she said dragging the corpse of his father behind her.
Toshiro: 'S-Scary' was all he could think.
After walking for 10 minutes, they arrived in front of a wooden house about the same size as their own. Toshiro's mother walked up to the door and knocked.
*knock*
*knock*
*knock*
???: "COMING!" a voice yelled from inside the house.
After a few seconds, the door slid open to reveal a beautiful woman with orange hair about the same age as Toshiro's mother.
???: "Ah Kanade, Shinji! I'm so happy you could make it." said the woman.
Toshiro's Mom(Kanade): "Of course we were going to come, Marika! How could we miss little Rangiku's fifth birthday" replied Kanade.
Toshiro: 'Wait, did mom just say Rangiku?' he thought
Marika: "Well come in, come in. I'm sure Rangiku would love to have more people at her birthday," she said before seeing Toshiro, "Aw, who is this cute little guy?" she cooed.
Toshiro: "I'm Toshiro Hitsugaya! And I'm 2 years old!" he said while thinking 'Jeez acting like a kid is draining.
Marika: "Aw, so cute! I'm sure Rangiku would love to have a new friend," she said before showing them inside.
Arriving at the backyard where the party was supposed to be, Marika turned to them.
Marika: "Just to warn you, Rangiku can be a little overly friendly sometimes," she said before turning back, "Rangiku, we have some guests!"
As soon as she called out a little redhead came running out of nowhere.
???: "Really!? Hi I'm Rangiku Matsumoto and today I turn 5!" she yelled while looking at the new group of people before honing in on Toshiro.
Toshiro felt a chill like he was being observed by some predator.
Rangiku: Eyes shining, turned to her mom, and said "You shouldn't have!" before running over to Toshiro, grabbing him, and proceeded to spin him around, "You got me a cute plushie!"
Seeing the scene in front of them, the adults started sweating while Toshiro was starting to look green from all the spinning.
Marika: "H-honey, you should put down Toshiro. I think he is going to be sick," she said while trying to suppress her laugh.
Rangiku: "Eh, you already named him?!" she asked, completely ignoring the fact that he was an actual person and not a doll.
Toshiro: "H-help me..." he managed to get out before covering his mouth to suppress the growing need to vomit.
Seeing this, Rangiku reluctantly put him down. Toshiro immediately ran to the corner of the yard to throw up. Toshiro's father just patted him on the back.
Toshiro: "Than-", he was about to thank him before he was cut off.
Shinji: "That's my son, already wooing the girl, just make sure to invite your old man to the wedding." he said with a smirk.
Toshiro's eyebrow trembled before punching his father in the balls. As his father lay on the ground looking like his soul just left his body, Toshiro returned to the rest of the group to introduce himself and make the crazy girl recognize he wasn't a plushie.
Toshiro: "Hello, my name is Toshiro Hitsugaya, I'm 2 years old." he said, dropping his child act slightly to prevent other attach from the spinning demon.
Rangiku: "Aw, he's so cute! Can we keep him!" she yelled out while hugging the obviously irritated Toshiro.
{End of Flashback}
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It had been 3 years since that day, and Toshiro had yet to find a way to swinging him around proclaiming how cute he was.
Shinji: "So, are you excited to finally start going to the Soul Reaper Academy?" he asked trying not to laugh at Toshiro and Rangiku's bickering.
Toshiro: "Yeah! I can't wait to get my Asauchi and finally begin training," he said while thinking about how he is going to convince Mia not to kill every girl he talks to.
Shinji: "HAHAHA, well I'm sure you are going to do great! You were already walking and talking when you were one" he said before wiping away an imaginary tear, "you're just like your old man after all."
Kanade: "Ara ara~, so I'm just chopped liver?" she asked menacingly.
Shinji: "N-no honey, I would never say that" he stammered while refusing to look her in the eyes.
After everyone finished laughing at Shinji's misfortune, the party continued into the evening until it was time to say goodbye to the Matsumoto family. The Hitsugaya family walked them to the door and said their goodbyes. The adults laughed at the children seeing that Toshiro was reluctantly giving a hug to Rangiku at her demand. As he closed the door Toshiro turned to he parents.
Toshiro: "What now?" he asked, secretly eager to open whatever present his parents got him.
Shinji: "Let's go to the living room to open your present, right honey?" he asked turning to his wife, only to see her shakily leaning against the wall.
Toshiro: "MOM! Are you ok?!" he asked in a panic.
Kanade: "Y-Yes dear, I'm fine," she said before trying to walk and collapsing on the floor.
Toshiro/Shinji: "MOM/KANADE!" they cried out in panic.
Kanade: "M-mom is fine, don't worry Toshiro" she stammered trying to stand up.
Shinji: "You need to rest! it's acting up again isn't it?" he said, the worry clearly audible.
Kanade: "I-I'll be fine," she said before being caught by Shinji.
Shinji: "No, you're going to bed and resting," he said firmly before carrying her to their room, leaving a worried and confused Toshiro standing in the hall.
10 minutes later, Shinji walked into the living room to see a worried Toshiro clenching his tiny fists.
Toshiro: "Is mom going to be all right? What happened?" he asked his father.
Shinji: "Mom is going to be fine Toshiro, it's just an old wound acting up." he said before sitting down on the couch.
Toshiro: "Wound? What wound!? Who hurt mom?!" he asked in anger. Being an orphan in his past life, Toshiro loved his parents dearly.
Shinji: "*sigh* Back when your mom and I were still active soul reapers and before we knew she was pregnant with you, we were out on a mission when we were surrounded by hollows. In the ensuing battle, your mother was bitten by one of them before we managed to kill it. She recovered just fine but sometimes still get phantom pains causing what you just saw" he said, the regret in his voice clear. "Don't worry too much about it, she is stronger than you know, now I think we should call it a night. I think we are both tired after today." Finishing what he wanted to say, Shinji stood up and walked out of the living room.
With a sour end to his fifth birthday, Toshiro made his way to his room and climbed into bed.
Toshiro: 'I don't know what dangers there are out there now that hollows are in this world, but I swear I'll get strong enough to protect those important to me' he thought to himself before drifting off the sleep.
