Hey all! I while back I was obsessing over Tokyo Ghoul while dealing with hitsukarin feels when I had a sudden thought: What about a Hitsukarin/Tokyo Ghoul AU? This ended up being the result.

I put a lot of thought into what parallels to use for this AU. At one point I considered the idea of having hollows be ghouls and Soul Reapers be the CCG, but I felt like that didn't really fit with one of the major themes of Tokyo Ghoul, that both sides have their good in bad parts. In Bleach we see both the good and the bad of the Soul Reapers, but generally Hollows are only seen as monsters. When looked at from the CCG's perspective that would be an accurate representation, but since Tokyo Ghoul fans sympathize with ghouls too much, it didn't really work. Instead I decided to make the Soul Reapers ghouls and the Quincy as the CCG, since with Uryu and this most recent arc in the Bleach manga the way they are viewed to readers is much more like the CCG is to the Tokyo Ghoul readers: full of a lot bad people, but with a few good ones thrown in and with understandable reasons to fight.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

It wasn't just Karin's own grumbling stomach that made her go hunting that day. It was also her sister's moans due to eating too much human food during school. But most of all, it was the sight of her brother who still hadn't healed from that stupid dove attack.

You see, Karin and everyone in her family were Ghouls. Well, her mother had been human so Karin, Yuzu, and Ichigo were technically half-human, but that wasn't the point. To the humans, half-ghouls were no different than normal Ghouls, since they had the same appetite. Karin and her family had to eat human meet to survive. And because of that, the CCG wanted them dead.

Usually Karin's family were able to stay off the doves' radar. Their mother had been a CCG investigator before she fell in love with their dad and "retired." She had taught them all the things they look for and how to act like a normal human in public. Their dad owned a small clinic to pay the bills and give them a reason to be around dead bodies.

But yesterday, while their dad was on a week-long business trip, her brother had seen one of his friends getting beat up by a couple of doves. Since Ichigo is an overprotective idiot, he decided to put on his own mask and try to save the guy. This lead to an all-out battle between the CCG and Ichigo and some of his friends. They were all able to get away eventually, but not without Ichigo sustaining major injuries from none other than the rising star of the CCG, Ishida Uryu.

Usually it wasn't hard for Ichigo to recover from his stupid fights. Dad would patch him up, he'd get a good meal, and he'd be up and about in a few hours. However, a good meal was crucial. A lot of Ghouls' healing abilities were dependent on whether or not they were hungry, including their fast healing. Karin's family usually got their food from the organs of people who'd died at the clinic (they had a deal with the coroner, another Ghoul, who would stuff the bodies to look like they were whole.) Sometimes, when there hadn't been that many people dying, their dad or Ichigo would go and get food from some other ghouls who got meat through other means (apparently they had a deal and sometimes Karin's family would give them meet if there were to many dead people at one time.)

However, with their dad out of town, their brother in no shape to move, and their fridge empty, the duty fell on Karin to get food. Unfortunately, Karin didn't know the people her dad and brother had a deal with and Ichigo couldn't tell her where to find them. Which meant that Karin would probably have to do it herself.

She would have to kill a person.

Karin swallowed nervously.

Whether it was because of Karin's unique family situation or her upbringing, she didn't have the same belief as other ghouls about humans. Conceptually, she knew that the meat she ate was the same as her mother and the humans she went to school with, but she didn't see humans as simply food. The idea of killing a person was... difficult.

But for her family, she would do whatever she had to.

Karin peaked out of the dark alley she was hiding in. She tried to think of ways to get in a position where she could kill a person easily. She knew that a lot of ghouls hung out in secluded areas and jumped whoever was stupid enough to go there at night, but Karin didn't what places were good for that and she definitely didn't want to get in a fight with other ghouls over food. On top of that, Karin didn't have a mask, so she would have to be extra careful. If doves saw her face, she was eternally screwed.

The best option Karin could think of was to lure someone away alone and do the deed then. She could go up to a guy, give them some kind of sob story, and ask them to walk her home. Then, when they were alone...

God, that was so manipulative. Karin wasn't that type of girl. Still, if that was what she had to do, then she had no other choice.

Karin walked out of her hiding place and strolled down a large, well-lit street. It was one of the only places still busy this time of night. There were a few crowds of people standing in front of various stores and restaurants, but most of the people were hurrying to their destination, most likely home. It would be difficult to find someone alone Karin could strike up a conversation with and lead to a secluded area.

"Can I help you?"

Karin almost jumped out of her skin at the sound of a voice right beside her ear. She turned to see who it belonged to.

He was a young teenager, probably about the same age as Karin. He wasn't wearing a school uniform, which was odd considering his age. His eyes were an unusual, teal color, and his hair was unnaturally white. He was short for a boy, but he seemed to have a decent amount of muscle on him, good, juicy meat...

Crap. Karin's hunger was starting to get to her. She really should find someone to lure away... But didn't this guy initiate a conversation with her? He was practically handing himself over to her.

Karin smiled.

"Actually, I think you can. I ended up spending more time shopping than I thought, and it got dark before I could get home. There have been a lot of Ghoul attacks in my area, so I don't want to travel alone..." Karin tried to look as pitiful and scared as possible.

God, Karin wouldn't be able to live with herself if this wasn't absolutely necessary.

"You want me to walk you home?" He asked.

Karin nodded.

"Couldn't you call a taxi?"

Shoot. He was picking holes in her story. "Well, you see..."

"Which direction is it? Your house, I mean."

Karin breathed a sigh of relief. She wouldn't have to come up with some kind of elaborate excuse. "It's this way," she explained as she pulled him down the nearest side street.

They walked together for a few minutes, during which Karin tried to think of where she could go to... finish it. She didn't want to wait too long, or she would lose her nerve. She led him through a few turns to get away from the view of the street. Just when was starting to think it was far enough, her companion and future victim spoke up.

"By the way, I don't think I ever got your name. I'm Toshiro Hitsugaya,"

Toshiro Hitsugaya. Karin committed that name to memory. She would make sure to thank him in her heart for the rest of her life. It was the least she could do.

Karin stopped suddenly with her back to him, realizing that she had come to a dead end. "Toshiro, huh," she sighed. "You really seem like a nice guy. I'm really sorry about this."

Karin released her Kagune. It was a Bikaku, just like the rest of her family. Karin didn't use it very often, but she was very proud of it. It wasn't as long or as powerful as her father's or her brother's, but it did reach her ankles in its relaxed state and could put a decent hole in the wall when she tried hard enough. She hoped that it would be enough to kill.

Karin stabbed her Kagune in the direction of the boy without looking back. She didn't have the heart to face him. She felt her Kagune stab the wall behind her and turned around. Karin was surprised to see her Kagune clean and the wall bare, with the boy nowhere to be seen.

"You aren't a very good hunter, are you? Even little kids know that you should check that the person you're hunting is someone you can take on."

Karin's eye's widened. Toshiro was standing up on the fire escape of a nearby building. The streetlight was close by and she could see his eyes.

His pair of black and red Kakugans.

"Well?" he asked, "Are you going to fight? You dragged me all the way out here, so if you want to try and cannibalize me you're welcome to try. However, I won't go easy on you." He unfurled his Ukaku Kagune, looking like an angel of death.

Karin was shaking. She could feel the moisture in her eyes, but she tried to force herself to calm down. She hadn't cried since her mother had died, and she wasn't going to start now in front of a hostile Ghoul. It really was just her luck, the one person she is able to get alone is another Ghoul.

Karin took a deep breath to calm herself down and hardened her gaze. "Look, I don't want to fight you, but I've got to get food for my family." She turned around and looked him straight in the eye. "If you do anything to stop me, I will defend myself."

Toshiro's eyes grew wide when Karin faced him. "One-eye?"

Karin quickly covered her right eye with her hand. That's right, because of her human mother she and her siblings only had one kakugan each. This was probably off-putting to most ghouls.

"Are you by any chance related to Ichigo Kurosaki?"

Karin gasped. "You know Ichi-nii?"

Toshiro put away his Kagune and jumped down from the fire escape. "Yeah. We've got a couple of mutual friends, and we're both connected to the Seireitei Coffee shop. Now that I think about it, don't you guys get your food from there? Why are you hunting at all?"

"Seireitei Coffee shop? Is that where Dad and Ichi-nii get the extra food from?" Karin asked. If it really was, then maybe...

Toshiro scowled. "You mean they never told you? Figures. Ichigo wouldn't even know himself if he hadn't met Rukia. I can understand not wanting you guys directly involved, but you need to at least know who to contact in case of emergencies..." Toshiro paused for a moment. "That's right, the moron went and got himself beat up by doves, didn't he? Guess that explains why you're so desperate."

Karin looked down at her feet. "Ichi-nii hasn't been able to get out of bed all day. We don't have any food left in the house, and since I didn't know what else to do..."

Toshiro sighed. "Well, you don't have to do that now. I'll introduce you to the guys in charge of the coffee shop, and they'll get you some food. Deal?"

Karin nodded. "Deal."

Toshiro started walking back down the alley. "Come on, we have to hurry if we want to get there before closing. By the way, I don't think I ever caught your name."

Karin ran to catch up with him. "It's Karin Kurosaki." She smiled at him. "Thanks for everything, Toshiro."

Toshiro shrugged. "It's no big deal. It's the shop's policy to help out their fellow ghouls anyway."

I put a lot of thought into what kind of Kagunes the characters would have. Toshiro's was pretty obvious since he's a dragon, though I also considered how as a battle progresses, his Bankai looses power, similarly to how ukakus don't have that much stamina. Karin's was harder, since although I personaly imagine her powers as resembling a pheonix, whatever kagune she had would also have to work for Ichigo and her father. After checking through all the kagune types, I decided on bikaku, since it is the most well-rounded and they are apparently capable at being good at everything, which sounded the most like Ichigo.

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