Title: Guilty Nightmares, Devoting Kicks

Summary: Kurosaki Karin takes after her brother; short tempered, powerful, understanding, rude, yet determined. She's determined to become what her brother became by going to the shinigami academy in Seireitei, and then become a powerful shinigami, exactly like her brother. While she becomes prey at the academy with Kuchiki Rukia, her relief at the end of the day is with her friends. One of them, specifically, makes her happy; brilliant soccer player, Hitsugaya Toshiro. Hitsugaya's mind wanders from Karin to Hinamori, wondering what they've created in his life. Rukia's unfazed charisma is suddenly cracked open with the sudden announcement of Ichigo and Inoue's 'relationship.'

Pairings: Karin/Hitsugaya Hinamori/Hitsugaya Rukia/Ichigo Inoue/Ichigo

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach…Sadly…

Prologue:

"Matsumoto, I want to know where Kira is…" A long deep sigh followed. "Scratch that; Matsumoto, grab Abarai and Kira when you find them for me. Also, if my suspicions are correct, and Abarai's around, Kurosaki and Kuchiki-san are also with them. Please escort them all back into my office." There was a slight twist, as the chair spun to the side a bit, facing the glass window. "Now that I think of Rukia-san, Captain Kuchiki has an amazing ability to avoid completing or receiving any paperwork or the arrangements for training or combat, unlike the majority of the other captains. Mainly, me. This is, I will honestly admit, one of the aspects I admire about him. Although you, Matsumoto, seem to have acquired Captain Kuchiki's….certain willfulness to avoid any paperwork handed to you as well." Wisps of shockingly translucent blue-white locks hung over his aquamarine eyes, almost shut as he uttered these words.

Matsumoto almost let out a tiny chuckle. Her captain was aggravated. Aggravation and fury weren't exactly the two ingredients that made her captain blissfully happy, either. She giggled a bit, and Captain Hitsugaya tensed in his spinning chair. Sitting only a few feet away from this too serious child was very amusing, when you were drunk. Matsumoto had come back from a party a few hours ago, where she hadn't given a shit about being sober. Although not completely clear-headed, she had enough common sense to see that this wasn't the time to object or be stubborn. Aimlessly, she began to lean onto her captain's desk and pout a little, while staring at him. She always wondered why he had to be so serious.

Although it took a few moments, Captain Hitsugaya felt the silence to be a little strange. He twirled around and found the peculiar image of a large chested woman gazing drunkenly at him. Although momentarily enraged and annoyed that his lieutenant had no capability to stay above the influence, he proceeded on, clearing his throat and shuffling through a few papers, moving the ones closest to Matsumoto.

"Anyhow, Matsumoto, do you understand? I want to meet with Kira about some unfinished paperwork, Abarai about his work schedule, and how it concerns a certain Kuchiki." Sucking in a breath of air that lingered around Matsumoto, he concluded with certainty that in a short amount of time, she would be conked out and rapidly forgetting the whole conversation. His fingers sifted through his desk's drawers until he pulled out a bottle of pills. Popping it open, he shook a black pill out.

Matsumoto smiled again. For the first time in their conversation, she spoke. "Captain Hitsugaya, I don't think I need to take the sake pills. I really don't want to, anyway." Her voice went up a few pitches. She stumbled up and waved a little at the captain. "I'll be leaving now…" She nearly got to the door, when the white flicker sprinted in front of her, forcibly opened her mouth, and made her consume the capsule. Before letting go of Matsumoto, he handed her a note and articulated very quietly, "When you wake up with a headache tomorrow, read the note and do exactly what's on it." A few seconds later, he was back at his desk, contemplating how much of Matsumoto's paperwork he would have to give to Kira.

oOo

Yoruichi Shihouin was having trouble with self control. Jinta, the red-haired bully was trying to bully Karin, the orange-haired hothead's sister. Karin decided to live with Urahara, knowing that Yoruichi would be going back to Soul Society in a matter of days, after her brother. She was constantly fighting with Yoruichi, saying how she didn't care about school and normal life; and seeing as her father and brother were both shinigami, it was only a matter of time before she would gain powers too. She had firmly decided that she would go to Seireitei with Yoruichi, attend the academy that Rukia had told her about, and become a lieutenant or captain, to support her brother, Rukia, etc.

It wasn't that Yoruichi couldn't see how Karin was going to become a powerful shinigami; it was just that Karin was Ichigo's sister. Anything associated with Kurosaki Ichigo was going to be hard to handle, especially if the girl's growth was as amazing as her brother's. What would the thirteen divisions do? What if Karin died in Soul Society? What if Ichigo found out about Karin's decisions? Among the few people in Seireitei that Karin knew, she admired nearly all of them. Rukia-san was her best buddy; Ichigo was her brother; Renji, the bald guy, and the guy with girl-hair and huge eyelashes were all so funny and gullible; Lieutenant Matsumoto…. Was Lieutenant Matsumoto, and Toshiro/Captain Hitsugaya was freaking awesome at soccer.

Urahara walked out onto the porch and pronounced out loud, "Yoruichi-san, you and Karin are ready to go to Seireitei, right? In a few hours, the gates will be open again." Karin snapped out of her quarrel with Jinta and gave a watery smile at Urahara, to which he replied, "Karin-chan, how long do you propose to stay in Seireitei?" His eyes grew a little steely as he said this. Yoruichi's first flicker of hope began to burn, thinking that if Karin wasn't able to stand the shinigami training, then she'd be back immediately.

"Urahara-san, Nii-san's clumsy, arrogant, and sometimes quite stupid, but strong at will. If I can't match his will, then I wouldn't be going to train. I want to train to become as amazing as him and my dad. When I become a real shinigami, I want to become a lieutenant or captain, just like Renji or Toshiro! I know, this could take years, and I might die, but if I die, won't I just go back to Soul Society anyways? And if it takes years, it'll take years, because I want to become strong." Yoruichi realized Karin was as headstrong as her brother, although not as idiotic and impulsive, which was very beneficial. This girl had more common sense and less inanity locked in her mind.

Yoruichi smiled silently, combing her hair back. Karin-chan had Ichigo's will, big speech, although a good sense of calm; probably not from her father's side of her family. "Yo, Karin. Even though you can see the Hollow, have you been able to kill them? Can you use your reiatsu as a weapon?" Yoruichi had sensed the same kind of reiatsu coming out of Ichigo, as it was coming out of Karin as well. Not exactly the same but close enough to know that the power was extreme. "Show me a few moves." She uttered simply.

"Heh! Give me a soccer ball, Ururu!" The shrimpy, pink-skirted girl whispered something to Urahara before scurrying into the shop and searching through mountains of junk. Karin's face shone with pride as she began loosening up her body. "I've played soccer for five years already, and all that's paid off." Karin felt her reiatsu begin to stretch throughout her body, obeying what she wanted. Ururu came back with a heavy looking, lead type of ball.

Urahara chuckled and introduced Karin to it. "This is a mineral coated metal ball, perfect for your soccer kick. As long as you can infuse your reiatsu within it the first time you touch it, this ball will temporarily be your weapon. Once you lift this ball off the ground, you can experiment with it, change it into different forms, shoot it, explode it, whatever you want; I'm only interested in seeing how well you can handle this." Karin took a few moments to warm up. Her right leg was unexpectedly pouring out great amounts of reiatsu as she raced towards the huge black ball. In a swift kick, the ball lashed into the air and came back down. Karin's palm smacked it up again. Over and over she hit it with parts of her body until she caught it in her hand.

"Urahara-san… you said I could change it, right?" She squeezed both her hands around the sphere, but the size didn't change. It took her a whole ten minutes to manage to form it a centimeter or two smaller. By then, she was already exhausted. "Damn… How do you crush this thing?!" Karin screamed as she stomped on it repeatedly with her foot. "The hell with this!" She picked up the ball with one hand and punted it towards the trees in the back of the Urahara's shop.

Urahara sighed. "Karin-chan, I'm disappointed that you would take after your brother… Retrieve the metal ball or I'll shut the gates to Soul Society." His arms crossed again, he watched as she ambled down the path to grab the ball. "Ururu, Jinta; hold Karin-chan down." He articulated darkly making Yoruichi shiver. Jinta cursed and rushed after Karin, who was walking faster now, unaware of the fact that two children were headed for her feet.

Karin landed with a thump. Annoyed, she stood back up again, aware of the fact that Ururu and Jinta had tried to make her fall. She gasped as she began to struggle to get up. Her body was pinned down by her sinking legs. Ururu's face stayed blank as she fell to her knees and straightened up Karin's left leg. She cracked her knuckled and went for her left knee, twisting it out of position. Karin winced at the pain as a fear tears fell. "Urahara! My knee!" Jinta twisted her right knee before she could say anything else. Her scream come out a hoarse, compressed whisper.

The shaggy-blond middle-aged man stood up and yelled, "Karin-chan, your ankles will be next if you don't retrieve it in time." Quite calmly, he sat down again and smiled at Yoruichi, who could only shiver a little in response. In a matter of moments, Karin's response was clear. Her hands reached out in front of her and began to pull her reiatsu back. She was getting faster with pulling, letting go, pulling, and so forth. Out of the blue, another spasm of pain hit her. Ururu had received the command of twisting her ankle. In a panic, Karin grasped her distant reiatsu with her fingers and clawed it back in. The black sphere spun towards Karin's open palm.

Urahara nodded, "She's got potential, but it can only be egged on with panicking situations. Just like her brother."

oOo

Author's Note: So... I finished the prologue. I promise the next chapters will be much longer; yes, the summary's a tad too long, but it's not that confusing, is it? Anyhow, please review to tell me if you liked it, and would like for me to continue with the story. No flames, but a constructive criticism is appreciated.