Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.

Summary: 7 years later, Hitsugaya remembers his days with Kurosaki Karin, now 17, and decides to pay her a visit. NOTE: This took place after Arrancar arc so there may be some spoilers.

A/N: Another little side note. Please do not expect my prediction to be correct. I do not know what happens after the Arrancar arc. Though I want to. xD

Have fun reading!

Reminiscent Thoughts

Chapter 1 : Forgotten Memories

Hitsugaya sighed deeply on the roof of his office, looking up at the bright moon and stars. He breathed in the clean, sweet air as he finally relaxed. The war was over and he was glad Soul Society was finally back in peace. He closed his eyes, slowly remembering. He winced as he recalled Hinamori's betrayal, and how she ran into Aizen's arms. Still, after all of this time, Hitsugaya still blamed himself for not protecting her, though he knew he couldn't have stopped her anyway. As he lied there, one of his thoughts was crystal clear compared to all of the other somewhat blurry thoughts. It was a picture of a girl close to the age he looked back then. She had short black hair and a stubborn face, with a prominent chin, and warm, big eyes. She dressed in a t-shirt and shorts, always with her soccer ball. He smiled a bit, as he remembered the first time he saw her, he thought she was a boy with feminine features. He remembered the first time he met her, the first time they talked, and the time he played in her soccer game. Throughout all of these memories, his throat closed, and his heart started pounding harder. He shut his eyes harder, willing the forgotten memories to disappear. It was painful for him, as he knew that Kurosaki Karin most likely did not remember him at all.

"Stop thinking about her...Nothing's going to happen even if you saw her and she remembers you. Nothing at all..." Hitsugaya gulped, whispering these discouraging words to himself, as he slowly fell asleep.

Karin stared at her ceiling, willing herself to go to sleep. She tried everything to fall asleep, even counting all of the patterns on the ceiling. She looked over at her sister, Yuzu, breathing in and out. Karin let out a huff and turned to her side, staring at her clock. It read, "12:30 AM."

She let out another frustrated sign as she rolled back onto her back. Spreading out her arms and legs, she thought about Ichigo. Karin missed her orange-haired, goofball older brother and the thought of him brought tears to her eyes. Her whole family suffered from the death, but they never found out the reason behind why he died. Karin's dad was much quieter and he always looked guilty whenever the subject of Ichigo was brought up. Yuzu was less cheerful, and it made the whole house gloomy. She tried to remember her times with Ichigo before, but she found it hard to remember as Ichigo disappeared before he died. Her thoughts pointed to another person, a white-haired boy her age.

She remembered every single detail of him, his white, spiky hair that looked soft to touch, his bright, teal blue eyes, and his skinny but lean figure. Every night, Karin tried to find Toushiro at his favorite spot for watching the sunset, but he seemed to also disappear. She slowly closed her eyes as a teardrop rolled down her cheek. Karin was surprised at her emotion and quickly wiped it away with the back of her hand.

"I barely even knew Toushiro, so why am I crying for him?" Karin asked herself confused. Even though she always tried to hide her emotions, she did feel betrayed and hurt when she realized Toushiro left. She felt hurt when she realized he didn't even say a goodbye to her.

"I doubt he even remembers me. I was just the annoying girl that begged him to play on her soccer team." Karin thought with a sarcastic smile that never reached her eyes. She turned around a couple more times as she finally fell asleep dreaming about the once forgotten memories.

Hitsugaya Toushiro opened his eyes slowly as bright light flooded through, making him flinch in pain. As his eyes slowly adjusted to the light, he realized what the once blurry things were. Being a little older, Hitsugaya quickly shoved his vice-captain, Matsumoto, away, blushing a deep red.

"Matsumoto! If you're going to wake me up, don't put your...don't put...don't put them right in my face!" Hitsugaya shouted at her, his blush fading. Matsumoto Rangiku was the curvy vice-captain for the 10th squad, who was known for her huge cleavage. However, she has become a little more mature since Gin's execution. Hitsugaya remembered how depressed Matsumoto was after the execution and he couldn't help but feel sorry for her. He experienced the same thing as Matsumoto was also very close with Ichimaru Gin. This event did not stop her from her old habit, hugging Hitsugaya with her heavenly valleys. After this perverted thought, Hitsugaya quickly shook his head.

"Toushiro, you are the captain of the 10th squad! Behave yourself!" Hitsugaya scolded himself. After he was composed, he turned back to look at Matsumoto.

"Matsumoto, we have work to do. And I would appreciate if you don't run off today to find a stapler but is instead found drunk on a floor with a bottle of sake." Hitsugaya said sternly, looking Matsumoto right in the eye.

The orange-haired beauty chuckled as she said, "Of course not, Tai-chou, I'll make sure to help you today." She winked at him as she jumped down after him, heading towards their office doors.

Hitsugaya opened the door, muttering about how a shinigami should always keep their word, knowing quite well that Matsumoto would do anything but help him today.

"Bye Dad and Yuzu, I'm heading off to soccer practice!" Karin said as she closed the door and ran off quickly. Before she got out of hearing range however, she heard both Yuzu and her father scream, "Okay! Have fun!" Karin left with a smile, forgetting for a moment of her memories last night.

She headed over to the soccer team. As she walked by the Boys' Practice, she felt many pairs of eyes stare at her. For only a second, she felt a hint of self-consciousness, but that feeling soon disappeared. Kurosaki Karin straightened her back and lifted her head up. She would ignore the pubescent boys that she was forced to call her classmates. She had to admit, her body had changed quite a bit, becoming more woman-like and less like her. At first, Karin felt very uncomfortable in her transformed body and she knew the boys in her class realized that Kurosaki Karin was no longer the stick figure girl. As she finally made it to the Girls' practice she went to the locker room and changed. She felt energized as this was the first practice of the season. Not only was she energized, she was also nervous. This was also the first time she had played soccer since her brother died, and she was worried on her performance. Karin slowly breathed in and out. If the coach had let her rejoin the team, that must mean the coach trusted her. This thought did not help Kurosaki Karin at all as it just put more pressure on her. She jumped up and down fast, helping to release some of the nervous energy before she left toward the soccer field.

Hitsugaya looked at the stacks of papers in front of him and was about to sigh in frustration, but instead turning it to a sigh of anger at Matsumoto.

"Matsumoto, please care to tell me what you are doing?" Hitsugaya said, glaring at Matsumoto, steam practically coming out of his ears.

"Tai-chou, stop beingsooooo boring and up-tight!" Matsumoto whined, using her usual excuse to avoid work.

"I'm not up-tight. So get over here now!" Hitsugaya almost lost it at the end but breathed deeply to compose himself once again. His attention on Matsumoto was distracted however, when a hell butterfly flew towards him and landed on his outstretched finger. After listening to what the butterfly had said, Hitsugaya told Matsumoto, "The Captain-Commander wants to see me about some mission. He says I should go alone, so you stay here and work!"

Arriving at the office soon later, Hitsugaya knocked on the Commander's door tentatively. After receiving a confirmation that he could go in, Hitsugaya entered the sparsely decorated room. In the middle was the old-aged Captain-Commander, Yamamoto. Looking at Hitsugaya gravely, Yamamoto said to him, "All of Soul Society knows what a blow the Kurosaki family must have endured after the death of Kurosaki Ichigo. Kurosaki Ichigo died protecting Soul Society and the balance of the world, and we must repay his family in some way. I want you to go to the real world and watch over the Kurosaki family. Make sure they're doing okay and report back weekly. You will be staying there for awhile."

Hitsugaya took in all of this information professionally, curtly nodding his head after the Captain-Commander was finished. But once Hitsugaya stepped outside of the stuffy office, he took a deep breath, trying to slow his pounding heart. As he walked back to his office, many thoughts flew through his head.

"I'm going to meet Kurosaki again."

"What would I say to her? How would I explain my absence?"

"Should I tell her family what really happened to Ichigo? They deserve a right to know..."

"I wonder if she looks different? It has been 7 years..."

"Will she be still angry at me for leaving without a goodbye?"

"Will she remember me?"

The last thought stuck in Hitsugaya's head throughout his trip to the real world. As he stepped through the portal, he looked around at the familiar Karakura town. He headed toward the direction of the Kurosaki family, his heart pounding harder and faster with each step.

a/n: Hoped you like it! I know the last part with Hitsugaya was a little OOC, but everyone has an insecure side!

More reviews= quicker update! Please review and give me constructive criticism! I actually don't really know where I'm going with this story; I'm just making it up as I go. xD So I might develop many cases of writer's block. Sorries in advance!

Oh and when Hitsugaya says Kurosaki from now on, he's talking about Karin, not Ichigo. Shirou-chan doesn't really call people by their first name, does he?

Hahahha, I can't believe I killed Ichigo!! I can't stand him though, and I didn't want to say he went to college. Too weird. xP

Well I'm an Ichigo-hater, so I'm fine with him dead. :O