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Title: Swiss Rumours

Author: MeteorLeopard (SugarFox)

Toushirou was used to hushed whispering wherever he went; it was inevitable if his height and mop of white hair was anything to go by. Although he must say, that after being captain of the tenth division for nearly fifty years he would almost have expected at least his division to come to terms with their captain's more… unusual features. Although, as he walked down the corridor, if the whispers and adverted gazes were any indication, he had no such luck. It was extremely irritating and he was quite honestly not in the mood for their petty stares today. He ignored them, or at least tried to, and yet he still couldn't help but catch snatches of their conversation.

"…Twelve…" (He did not look like a twelve year old!)

"…Dangerous…" (Yes he was! Now back away slowly!)

"…Kurosaki Karin…" (Oh hush, its none of your business!)

The murmurs followed him, and he had to frown when he heard a mumble of Karin's name. It was no secret that he was involved romantically with Kurosaki Ichigo's younger sister, but when had that become a generalized gossip topic? It was really old news, at least a couple of weeks, and he was almost sure that his vice had already found and spread another interesting story for everyone's entertainment. One that was not linked to his personal life. Matsumoto knew better than to breathe a single word of his business, especially after last time…

The murmurs continued and the noise became a hushed roar. Now he was on his last nerve with these people. He was beginning to contemplate just freezing the whole lot of them. That would most certainly shut them up. He marched towards his office and just as he reached the door, he turned quickly and noted that everybody's eyes were on his retreating figure. Did they have nothing better to do? Didn't they have hollows to kill? Training to do? Paperwork to file? Clearly not. It was becoming too much, and they weren't even pretending not to look at him. He was not in the mood for this!

"Don't you people have work to do?" He scowled and asked the crowd icily, causing a couple of them to figuratively freeze mid sentence. Some even began shuffling papers and others started mentioning places that they should be. A few of the wiser people yelped and fled in different directions when they noticed frost beginning to form on the walls around them.

Toushirou had to huff in annoyance with his nosy subordinates. There was an odd satisfaction to be gained through scattering a crowd with a mere sentence (and an out of character display of power). He stomped into his office, slammed the door behind him – causing the door to shudder – and sat down at his desk to do paperwork. Despite what people may said about him, Toushirou didn't like paperwork anymore than Matsumoto did, but somebody had to do it and the chances of getting his vice to accomplish anything helpful in that area were slim. So here he was, doing his job.

He worked in monotonous silence for a few minutes, before his mind began to wander and he wondered why normal unranked shinigami were talking about Karin. Sure, when she had first moved to Soul Society with her whole family it was all anybody could talk about, but at this moment she was off in the World of the Living and nothing had happened that would invoke any type of gossip or rumors.

He had to say that his bad mood did have a lot to do with Karin's current absence, and he was almost sure that his vice had probably noticed it over the last couple of days. He couldn't believe that Karin had to be gone for an entire week. On what she called a life and death mission. One that he could expect her to come back from either near dead or chronically insane. He had laughed at the time. He would hardly classify a family vacation in the World of the Living as a 'High Risk Mission'. She had though and told him very seriously that if she sent him a distress signal he was to come and rescue her immediately before she killed somebody. (Most likely her father.)

He had just grinned at her almost dramatic plea, told her that she would be fine before kissing her on the cheek and shoving her into the Senkai gate to follow her family. Perhaps a week in Switzerland on a family skiing trip might do her some good. It also might have done him some good, but even when Karin begged him to come along he had told her that he couldn't intrude. Isshin had maintained that it was a family trip and even Rukia had been left behind in Soul Society to continue her duties as new vice captain of the thirteenth squad. So he had told Karin to go and insisted that he would rescue her if need be.

That had been three days ago, and he assumed by the fact that he hadn't received any SOS calls to his soul pager that she was coping just fine and didn't need him. Well, didn't need him to save her. It didn't mean he had to like it. He would be lying if he said that he wasn't fantasizing about rescuing her from the slopes, sweeping her off her feet and bringing her back home. What? He was still a guy and to be honest he just wanted to see Isshin and Ichigo's faces when Karin disappeared in a blur as he carried her off on a snowboard. However, the chances of that happening were next to nothing.

He tried to continue his work but after another couple of minutes, he had had enough, and all he wanted was a cup of tea. Where was Matsumoto? What good was she to him if she wasn't around to at least make him a cup of tea when he did all of her paperwork? She had barely been in the entire day. She had appeared around lunch to tell him that she had important things to do and then disappeared. He had no doubt that she was off doing some very important drinking.

Deciding that he wanted tea, and he refused to make his own, he picked up the telephone on his desk and dialed Matsumoto's number. It rang a few times, and he was beginning to wonder if she was too drunk to answer when a huffing Matsumoto answered. She didn't sound in the least bit drunk, and she didn't even give him a chance to speak before she snapped that she was just down the corridor and would be there in two seconds. She then hung up on him and a single second later his office door slid open to reveal a rather frantic looking – and completely sober – Matsumoto. Now that was a rare occurrence if he had ever seen one.

"Taicho, I have bad news." She told him as she strode to his desk running a hand through her long strawberry blonde locks.

Toushirou immediately gave his vice all his attention. He knew that Matsumoto was an exuberant character who enjoyed a good party and was generally known to be a bit of a flirt. Nevertheless, she had a serious side and he knew that if he heard that note of worry in her voice that something was very wrong.

"What is the matter, Matsumoto?" He asked her quickly, and she looked less than happy to be the one who had to deliver this particular tidbit of information.

"I was visiting at the sixth squad offices because I managed to get Kuchiki taicho to agree to help me train for Bankai and I spoke to Renji who heard from Yumichika who heard from Yachiru who overhead Ukitake Taicho talking to Rukia-"

"Get on with it." He snapped and she stopped rambling, remembering why she was there.

"The point is that Rukia got news that there was an accident; an avalanche and Karin is injured. You know how rumors spread and since you have been sulking in your office since Karin left, it seems you are the only one who doesn't know." Her tone almost scolding but Toushirou couldn't care less.

Karin was hurt? In an avalanche? What were the chances? How bad was it? Was she going to be alright? Why hadn't she called him? She had said that she would call him if she needed him!

He felt sick to his stomach at the thought of losing the single most important person in his life. Matsumoto saw him pale visibly and he stood up quickly. He had already grabbed his sword and tied it on his back. "What is the situation? Is she alright?" He tried to sound even vaguely calm, but his icy mask was slipping a little bit. He remembered the whispering crowd from earlier. They were talking about Karin; had they known? He wanted to kick himself for not figuring out that something was wrong sooner.

"I am not actually sure, but I heard snatches of twelve broken bones, a full body cast and close-to-death hypothermia. She was airlifted to the nearest hospital with a helicopter!" Matsumoto said, stumbling over the word 'helicopter' as though not quite sure what it was. She followed him as he marched out of the door and began flash stepping to the nearest Senkai Gate.

This was not happening. There was no way that he was going to lose Karin. Not now, not ever. He told Matsumoto to stay and let him know if she heard anything else. She nodded and flashed off to go and talk to Rukia about details.

He was not going to hang around and wait for more news. He was going to Switzerland right now! He didn't care if he was only supposed to leave for the real world in cases of extreme emergency. This was an emergency for him! He didn't even spare the guard at the gate a nod as he flashed through dark space. He was trying not to panic. She was going to be fine, he tried to reassure himself. Karin was tougher than that and if a bit of snow would get her down he would be damned.

He burst through the Senkai Gate on the other end and found himself in the freezing air of Switzerland. If he wasn't in such a hurry, he might have enjoyed a look around the snowy streets. Switzerland looked like his type of place, and he made a quick note that if he ever had to run for his life and hide somewhere in the real world like Urahara had 100 years ago, Switzerland would be his first option. He shook his head and decided that that would have to be stored in his mental 'file thirteen' for some other time.

Now that he was in the small skiing town where the Kurosaki family was staying, he began to look for Karin. It was going to be hard; she had excellent reiatsu control unlike her brother. He searched for a few minutes with no luck. In the end, he growled in frustration and decided to look for Ichigo instead. It took him a few seconds to track the orange haired Shinigami's reiatsu. Toushirou flashed across the town and found himself outside a large private hospital. He caught a smidgeon of Karin's reiatsu from inside the looming building. He realized as he crossed the white parking lot that Karin truly was injured enough to be put in a hospital in the first place. It made his stomach clench uncomfortably.

As he ran up the snow covered stairs and through the glass revolving doors it was not the first time he was thankful that he was invisible to humans. He ran across the foyer and flash stepped up the twelve flights of stairs to her location instead of waiting for a lift to appear. He dodged nurses, IV drip stands and even managed to slide past two children wobbling through the halls. He could feel Karin's reiatsu becoming clearer and he could sense that she was just down the passage. He dashed the hundred-meter distance, dread building in his stomach as to what he was going to find. He could sense that Ichigo was downstairs and Yuzu and Isshin weren't even in the vicinity. They'd left her unattended? What if she died in their absence?

Toushirou ran towards the approaching door, his hand outstretched as he grabbed the door handle. He burst into Karin's room, forgetting rational thinking and that she might be resting or his manners that were dictating him to knock before entering. He stood in the open doorway, breathing deeply his gaze fell on a mop of dark hair under white hospital bed covers. He ran to her side, panicking that he couldn't see if she was alright under all the sheets. The noise from his dramatic entrance had roused Karin from her slumber and she opened her eyes groggily to see a near hysterically concerned Toushirou standing at her bedside. His teal eyes were pool of worry and she wondered if something horrible had happened.

"Toushirou, what are you doing here?" She asked and pushed the covers away from her chin to get a better look at him. He was in Switzerland with her? He began to fidget when she began to shift into an upright position. She winced from the pain shooting up her left leg.

He edged closer. "Where does it hurt? What is wrong? Are you alright? You aren't going to die are you?" He looked scared to touch her in case he hurt her, and although he could see that she wasn't in a full body cast it was clear that she was injured in some manner. Karin raised an eyebrow at her erratic and sudden overly concerned boyfriend. It was not like Toushirou to lose his head over silly things and she began to wonder if she had perhaps missed something.

"You should stay warm, hypothermia isn't a joke. You could go into shock and die," he told her, pulling her blankets up to cover her again and unsuccessfully attempting to tuck her in gently.

Karin was getting irritated with him. It was hot in this room and all she wanted was a little bit of cool air on her face and a better look at him. For goodness sake, she had missed him and all he had done since he had gotten here was speak cryptically. No hello-kiss? Or even just a hello? What was he babbling on about anyway?

She tried to sit up again and he tried to make her lie down again. "Don't get up."

"Would you quit it? I am fine!" she snapped, slapping his restraining hand away. "Good grief, it's not like I am on my death bed or anything." She told him and he frowned slowly.

"You are not?" He seemed surprised. "What about the avalanche and your twelve broken bones? Not to mention the severe case of hypothermia and helicopter they had to deploy to get you here?" He asked as he began to search for any form of injury on her body, grabbing her face gently to check for even the slightest scratch on her features. Karin raised her hand to his and pulled his hands from her face, keeping their fingers joined.

"Avalanche?" she asked. "Who said anything about an avalanche? Did Matsumoto spike your tea with sake or something?" A skeptic look graced her face, suggesting that she thought he had lost his nut.

"So, you aren't in a full body cast?" He asked, looking more bewildered than ever and his frown began to relax a little bit. His face began to look less strained and his eyebrows weren't pulled together as if he was worried out of his mind.

"Does it look as if I am in a full body cast?" She asked him, releasing his hands and shaking her plaster-free arms above her head. He shook his head almost sheepishly.

"I guess not, but you must be injured from the avalanche or you wouldn't be here, so what's broken?" He asked and again he began to scrutinize her again.

"Stop squinting at me like that!" She yelled at him, and Toushirou jumped a little in fright. Well, she seemed to be in perfect health, or at least well enough to yell at him. He had never been so happy to hear her yell at him before.

"Sorry." He said slowly and meaning it too. "But seriously, if you aren't hurt then why are you in hospital?" He asked her, it was merely an observation, but people didn't just go to hospital for recreational purposes because they wanted to try the hideous food and spend a night on sterile white hospital linen.

"I broke my left ankle," Karin explained grouchily. "It was my stupid fathers fault! Somebody should tell him that you do not try and hug your daughter when she is trying to snowboard down a slope." Karin seemed irritated and she probably would have punched her father, had he been in the room.

"Only a broken ankle? That's all?" He asked slowly, a deep sense of relief flooding him and she nodded in conformation.

"And a couple of bruises from the roll but nothing that won't heal in a couple of weeks or a few minutes after I visit Unohana-taicho. Now would you mind tell me why you burst in here going on about avalanches and full body casts?" She asked, rolling her eyes at his behaviour from earlier.

"There is an accelerated velocity of terminological inexactitude in Seireitei. Or in simpler terms, rumors spread fast and grow in untruth every time they are retold," Toushirou told her and she rolled her eyes again.

"So who told you that I was on my death bed?" Karin moved over and patted the space beside her on the hospital bed for him sit down next to her.

Toushirou removed his sword from his back as he moved over to her. "Matsumoto heard it from Renji who got it from Yumichika who heard it from someone else. Or it was something like that." He sat beside her, careful not to touch her ankle and he put an arm over her shoulder. Karin grinned and snuggled under his arm with a sigh.

"No wonder," Karin muttered. "Any rumor that goes via Yumichika gets trebled. Surely you didn't seriously think that I was that injured, did you?" She asked and he almost blushed when he thought about his intense over-reaction.

"I didn't really stop to think about the absurdity of it. I came straight here." He muttered a little shame-faced at his lack of logical thinking and Karin laughed softly at his confession.

"Oh well, I guess you are here now… So could you do me a favour?" She asked him and he wondered what she could possible want.

"Depends on what it is but if it is reasonable your wish is my command," he teased and she laughed.

"Please get me some food that isn't from this building? Anything Japanese? Or Swiss? Some fondue? Chocolate? " She asked and he could almost hear her stomach grumbling. He laughed and managed to go downstairs and get her some chocolate from a small candy counter in the cafeteria.

She almost pounced on it when he handed it to her, and as he watched her devour the entire bar he had to grin. Yup, that was his Karin; a one of a kind. Thank heavens she was alright.

"Why are you grinning like an idiot?" She asked and he just shook his head slowly at her and the huge circle of chocolate around her mouth. She looked so cute and innocent despite the fact that she was no longer the clueless young girl she was when he'd first met her.

"Just good to see you are ok." He told her with a smile and she grinned back before she yawned slowly and lay back down. "You should get some sleep." He told her and she nodded before pointing at a big armchair in the corner of the private room.

"Sit. Stay." She told him shortly and he nodded, tucked her in to sleep, gave her a gentle kiss, and settled into his designated spot in the corner.

He would be right here when she woke up. Oh well, so much for not intruding on a family holiday…

Omake

Rukia just gotten off the phone with Ichigo and was glad to hear that Karin was going to be just fine. Shoving her soul pager into her robes, she decided to go and tell Hitsugaya-taicho that Karin had hurt her ankle but she was on the mend. She gathered up a couple of pages that she needed to give to Matsumoto as well and was about to leave the thirteenth division offices when somebody burst through the front door.

It was Matsumoto and Rukia could see that she was very worried about something.

"Is Karin alright? How are they going to get her back to Seireitei in a full body cast? Is she going to die?" The strawberry blonde latched herself onto Rukia's arm and rattled off in almost panic. What was this woman going on about?

"What are you talking about? Karin is fine, she has a broken ankle but she is going to be as right as rain and back in a few days." Rukia told her friend and Matsumoto looked confused.

"Wait, no hypothermia? No twelve broken bones? No Helicopter?" Matsumoto didn't know if she should be relieved or scared to death.

"Nope. No helicopter. Seriously, where do you hear these things?" Rukia asked as she saw her friend pale visibly, and then turn on her heel and march out of the room. "Where are you going?" Rukia called after Matsumoto.

"To kill Yumichika," the woman growled. "Then I am going to pack and go into hiding before my taicho gets back and kills me. It was nice knowing you Rukia!" Matsumoto called over her shoulder and Rukia just shook her head. That woman was crazy.