Innocent *Toshiro Hitsugaya Love Story*

Chapter 22: A Good and Bad Reminiscence

3rd Person POV

          Young Aika stumbled across the courtyard, chasing after a firefly. Dusk had recently fallen, and fireflies had come out of hiding. Aika had always had a deep affection for animals. She cupped her hands around one and then slowly opened them to see the sparkling insect. She giggled and threw her hands in the air as the firefly flew away.

          Atop the stairs, under an archway stood three girls. Their features were nearly identical to each other and Aika. On the left, stood Chou, eldest of the four. Her pale hair, usually placed in a careful bun, was down in two, long pigtails with two pieces of hair hanging down beside her bangs. Chou had deep, dull brown eyes that showed her maturity and strength. Chou was the responsible sister. To the right, stood Yoshie, the second child. Her blonde locks, much shorter than her three sisters, was tied pack in a single ponytail with two locks hanging beside her messy bangs. Yoshie had bright, forest green eyes that showed her thirst for adventure and malevolence. Yoshie was the fun sister. In between them, stood Miki, the youngest child. Her pale blonde hair was tumbled down her shoulders but with two pieces braided and pulled back in the back. She had two long locks cupping around her face and bangs. Miki had light aqua color pupils that showed wonder and playfulness. Miki was the baby sister. Chou's expression showed content while Yoshie's showed eagerness and Miki's showed kindness. Each sister was two years younger than the last.

          Soon, a couple, the four girls parents to be exact, walked behind Chou, Yoshie, and Miki. The mother and father didn't share very many similarities with the girls. The mother had dark brown hair and bright, green eyes, while the father had pale blonde hair and dark, chocolate brown eyes.

          It was Aika's birthday today, and they had all waited for her favorite time of day: twilight.
Miki, being the impatience eight year old she way, hurried down the stars and tackled Aika into a hug. Their sisters and parents followed soon after. Their mother pulled a small box out from behind her back and handed it to Aika. Aika quickly tore it open and pulled out a blue butterfly hair piece. Chou helped her click it onto her ponytail.

          Aika's mother pulled the twelve year old into the Kuroda family's foyer where the head of the clan was standing with his fourteen year old son, Katsuo. Her mother followed the man walked into an office; Aika stayed with Katsuo. Her mother and Katsuo's father talked for quite a while, leaving Aika and Katsuo to an awkward silence. Katsuo would eye her many times, making Aika feel nervous, weird, and embarrassed. Katsuo complimented her a few times, which she only thanked him for.

          Soon, her mother came out and took Aika home. She told her that her and Katsuo's father talked about an arranged marriage between Aika and Katsuo. Her mother told her that the final decision would be up to Aika, for it was her getting married.

          Aika immediately declined the offer, saying that she would not marry anyone she didn't know. Her mother told Katsuo's father and her mother said that Katsuo was very upset that Aika had said no.

          Aika and Yoshie were out to buy some new kimonos, for Chou was to be married within a few months. After they had bought kimonos for each other, Miki, and their parents, they ran into Katsuo on the way home. Katsuo was still very upset from Aika rejecting him. He yelled at her for it. Aika cowered from him until Yoshie lashed out on him. She attacked him with words until he pissed her off beyond control and she tackled him to the ground. She punched, kicked, bit, pinched, and slapped him until Katsuo's guards pulled her off of him. Katsuo yelled at the sisters, saying that they would regret everything they had ever done to him.

          A few months later, at Chou's wedding, Katsuo crashed the wedding with six assailants who were cloaked in black, only revealing their heads and arms as they slashed and killed the party guest. Yoshie quickly grabbed the two decorative swords off the wall, tossed one to Aika, and went after the attackers. 

          Her father was fighting against a girl with electric blue eyes, pale skin, and long, silver hair. The girl stabbed Aika's father in the middle of his chest. Aika screamed and charged at the girl. Aika went to decapitate the girl, but the girl barely dodge by spinning around while side stepping. The only thing Aika cut was the girl's hair. She had cut it cleanly off into a bob. The girl scowled at Aika.

          "You bitch!" the girl shouted as she slapped Aika across the face. Aika fell backwards onto the edge of a table, knocking herself unconscious. During the attack, nearly all of the party guest, including her father and the groom, died. Aika, Chou, Yoshie, Miki, and their mother were some of the few survivors.

          Soon after the attack, Aika decided to join the Shino Academy to become a Soul Reaper. She thought that she was too weak and wanted to be able to protect her family. She only went to the academy for four years, since she was naturally great at Zanjutsu. Once she graduated, she was put in Squad 5 and was immediately seated as the ninth seat. After just a few days, she was sent to Hokutan, the third district in West Rukongai. While she was there, she found the same silver haired girl from the wedding attacking her family. Another person she saw at the wedding was holding Miki. Aika rushed for the man, but he disappeared out of sight, along with Miki.

          While Aika was distracted, the silver haired girl killed her mother. Aika was devastated and confronted the silver haired girl. They fought, both having serious injuries near the end. Aika was cut deep through her right leg, across her hip, and a puncture wound through her mid-section. The silver haired girl - who revealed her name to be Junko - was barely cut across both sides of her waist and arms, slashed across her stomach, and her left eye had been stabbed, leaving her blind in that eye.

          After the fight, Aika went back to Squad 4 and begged Captain Unohana to find a way to erase her memories so that she could forget all of the pain she had went through. Captain Unohana obtain a medicine made by Captain Kurotsuchi that would make her forget nearly everything from before that moment. After Aika fell unconscious from the medicine, Captain Unohana healed her and put her to bed.

          Aika forgot many things, that she had a family, every fight she was in, Katsuo, Junko, the wedding, every friend she had made, and some of her fighting abilities - including that she could perform Shikai. She woke up the next day to begin her life of ignorance to her past situations...

          ...Until now...

(A/N) Okay, so as I type this, I am exactly 38 minutes late from posting this on Thursday, but I only remember while I was lying in bed reading a story I have become addicted to. Sorry for forgetting but it is still Thursday in some parts of the world, so I was close enough.

Meh.

This is definitely one of my favorite chapters because I love flashbacks more than a normal person should. :-3

And now its 40 minutes late.

Damn.