#with. kurosaki reiko (jinjahime)

[bornhollow]

she'd been planning it for a while; ever since she first met him [ truly first met him, now that she'd remembered, ] he seemed almost sheepish when it came to celebrating himself, for all the self-confidence he carried—he was loud and excitable and one of the genuinely happiest people she'd ever met … even if she knew part of that was solely for the kids' sakes. he'd let himself be the butt of jokes and the subject of the kids' annoyance if it meant keeping them happy or distracted from the trauma all of them had gone through so young. he would always give his all when it came to celebrating everyone else in his life, which meant when it was his birthday? it was her turn.

once the kids were off to school, she'd told isshin she needed some medication picked up from ryū at the hospital, ( even texting ryū a heads up after she'd kissed isshin's pout and sent him out the door, ) before she carefully tied her locs back in a loose ponytail in order to set about her task. having already taken some painkillers, reiko made her way around the living room, decorating as much as she could until a rather well-timed text from urahara-san asked if she needed help. [ it was rather creepy how he always seemed to know things— ] creepy or not, though, she accepted his offer to help, and tsukabishi-san and sora-san's assistance finishing decorating was deeply appreciated.

with the house finished, she only had to wait for him to return from his tasks—she had to add a few more on in order to keep him away long enough, as much as his crying emojis broke her heart to see—but finally, he was home, and not only was the house complete, but her gift, too. greeting him at the door, she held out the wrapped box, ( rather conspicuously wrapped in green and white striped paper, ) its contents nestled safely inside atop some tissue paper. once opened, the box revealed the present, an old scrapbook … one reiko had since high school.

the pictures inside, some older than others, chronicled the journey of reiko as she left hakone in 1976 to attend school in naruki-shi—pictures of jinja hime ryokan, her family, her friends, and finally—pictures of her with a much younger isshin in a gigai. the scrapbook continued on, the pictures growing crisper, more modern, as pictures of her and haruto came in, then isshin and masaki, and their respective families—and finally, culminating in the families joining, filled with a seemingly endless amount of photos of the kurosaki and kan'onji families combined. birthdays, holidays, school year starts, spending time at the beach, a perfect representation of everything that had brought them both together after all this time.

standing on her toes as best she could, pushing up on her crutches, reiko's lips met his chin as he leaned down to meet her, smiling softly as she murmured, " happy birthday, love. "

when it came down to it, isshin's birthday was better than anything he could have hoped for. but that's how it was every year, at least since his current family came to be.

when he was young, birthdays were an excuse for more and more responsibility to be shoved on him. every year that passed, his father expected more from him, expected him to grow up and be the man issei thought he should be; the head of the shiba clan, the captain of gotei 13's 10th division, someone prepared to become a husband, to sire more shiba kids like issei had- birthdays were pretty miserable back then.

now? now isshin felt like he actually was the man he was supposed to be- not by issei's standards, but by his own. he was married to the woman he loved (and had memories of masaki to look back on to as well), he had his kids, who he adored more than life itself, and he had a home and a community he truly felt apart of.

birthdays reminded him of how lucky he was.

he pouted through his errands that day, but when he got home, he was delightfully surprised to see the house decorated, and reiko was there to greet him, like she did every day.

he couldn't hide his crooked grin as he leaned down low, kissing her head with warm affection. "you didn't have to go to all this trouble, honey-" before he noticed the gift she was offering him.

his grin turned softer, warmer, as he opened the gift, slowly starting to go through the photo within. he went slow, examining each one, watching them grow from old to newer and newer. watched reiko grow older, watched himself mature- watched them together and apart and then together again, their families growing too.

by the time he finished the album, he could barely see through the tears.

a shiver ran through his spine from the soft kiss on his chin, immediately leaning down to meet reiko, catching her lips in a kiss. sniffling a bit (he couldn't help it), he smiled against her lips, something he could never resist doing.

"thank you, honey. and have i ever told you that i'm the luckiest guy in the world?"