Disclaimer: Don't own bleach or its characters or anything for that matter.

"Congratulations it's a girl!" Karin was weary and her hair stuck to her face from perspiration caused by the birth of her baby. She was a healthy baby girl at 5 pounds 12 ounces. And a winter baby just like her father. Karin held her arms out so that she could hold her baby when she started to tremble then it turned into violent, uncontrollable spasms. Hitsugaya took a hold of her hands asking her what was wrong. "Please step outside sir, we need more space." A nurse kindly said as she moved about in a sense of urgency. It became chaotic as doctors and nurses were squirming around in a panic in the little delivery room. Hitsugaya was confused, he wasn't used to hospitals in the human world and everything always seemed hectic, the constant beeping, countless nurses, and bags of fluids used for different reasons it was all too much. Now his 20 year old wife of two years just had their baby and was experiencing complications. They knew the risks, the doctors warned them of the consequences and the likelihood of it. Hitsugaya was skeptical about it but Karin insisted on keeping the baby. Hitsugaya sat out in the waiting room until a doctor came to tell him the bad news. Karin didn't make it. He cradled their baby, their daughter whom they didn't get to name together as tears strolled down his face, guilt and regret weighing on his mind. The snow fell heavily outside as he stared at the frost on the windows then do.

Hitsugaya fed and cleaned up his now 8 month old daughter. She had jet black hair and pale skin like her mother and had his emerald green eyes. She rarely cried, was extremely curious, full of energy and Hitsugaya loved her with all his heart. He placed her on his futon after she had fell asleep in his arms. They both lived in his 10th squad home, which, since he was a captain, was rather large. Even though he had a room for her, she always slept on his futon with him.

He removed his haori and shihakusho, took a nice warm bath and got dressed in a white yukata to sleep in. He lay next to his daughter who he named Sora and pulled the covers up. He watched her tiny body move up and down by way of her breathing and he touched her little arm with his finger. She was so beautiful and he wished Karin was with him so she could see how beautiful their daughter was, so that she could see what they had made together, and so that she could love her with all her heart as well.

He'd search for Karin since he came back to Soul Society but there was no such luck. It would take all of eternity to search all the districts of Rukongai to find one person but he wasn't going to give up. He knew she had high reiatsu so he was hoping that she would attend the shinigami academy someday and he was still waiting. He took the liberty of reviewing all the applications and entrance exams in hopes of finding her but applications were only accepted twice a year. Another set back was that all of her memories would be gone. She wouldn't remember him or her daughter, or her family. The only thing she would know is her name. That idea made Hitsugaya wonder if should know her maiden name or married name. There was a way to trigger her memories but the problem was figuring out how and if her memories were able to return. Everyone was different and most people can't regain their memories after death but he knew there was a way with Karin considering their past and her family. Shinigami blood ran through her veins so she should be able to recall her memories. He regretted not letting her become a shinigami before because at least that way, if she was to die, she would have her memories indefinitely and he wouldn't have to search for her. It would have been like nothing ever happened except that her body died. But he kept her a human wanting to protect her and not involving her with dangerous matters and that decision definitely came back to bite him in the ass.

Hitsugaya awoke with drool on his face and he felt his hair being tugged on. He opened his eyes and Sora had her hand full of his hair and her other hand in her mouth which she also used to touch his face. He stared at his daughter and pinched her cheek affectionately.

"O-sa!" Sora had been saying that for the past few days now.

"Yes, otousan."

"O-sa!!!" She repeated. Hitsugaya picked her up to change and feed her. He became extremely talented in doing things with one hand such as warming up her food and packing her baby bag. He fed her o-kayu most times and he noticed that she took a liking to banana and watermelon. Go figure.

He placed her back on the futon so that he could get himself ready for the day. He always had to keep a watchful eye on her especially since she had started crawling.

Once, she got to the supply of ink next his desk and she was an inky disaster. He still hadn't figured out how she got the bottles open. Her handprints are still on his office floor and on the side of his desk, and the outfit she had on at the time is no longer usable. There was also another time when Matsumoto was babysitting. No one had any idea that Sora could crawl, so when Matsumoto was looking through some paperwork thinking Sora couldn't go anywhere, Sora got a hold of the baby powder that wasn't quite shut. Matsumoto only noticed her disappearance when she heard an endless amount of cute little sneezes. Hitsugaya was fuming when he arrived back from a captains meeting to see his daughter covered in white powder. Matsumoto tried to brighten things up by declaring Sora's ability to crawl which worked for only about a minute but she still got stuck doing all the paper work for the remainder of the week.

Hitsugaya stepped into the 10th squad office holding Sora against his left hip and a baby bag on his right shoulder. The office was empty and there was a large pile of paperwork on one side of his desk.

"Looks like daddy's going to be busy today." He sighed. Sora looked at him with her big green eyes then giggled and took hold of his bottom lip. He kissed her forehead then put her down next to his desk.

He had cleaned up the office to ensure that it was baby proof. He removed the box of ink from the floor, put soft foam on all the edges of everything, including his desk and chair, and removed all of the books in the bottom three shelves even though she couldn't reach that high. He even had carpet installed to soften the floor a little, which covered her ink made handprints but there were still prints on the side of his desk. Everyone thought he was crazy for rearranging everything in the office but the thought of his daughter growing up with no mother to take care of her was reason enough that Hitsugaya had to have her at work with him.

Everyone adored Sora and the two-person family always got all sorts of compliments. Oh how cute. She has your eyes. She's so tiny. You look so young to be a father. That had to be the comment he hated the most. Hitsugaya still did look rather young and he definitely wasn't as tall as most guys but he was still taller than Karin by a few inches, since she hadn't reached a mere five feet. And he was beyond the appropriate age of being a father.

Sometimes Ukitake taicho would take Sora off of Hitsugaya's hands for a few hours because he couldn't get enough of her and this allowed Hitsugaya some time to yell at Matsumoto for whatever she didn't do.

It was nearly noon and Sora kept herself preoccupied with her toys and crawling around the large office. Hitsugaya made it a habit to watch her and work at the same time which was relatively easy since she always made baby noises. It was as if she were talking to someone in her own language. He would call her name every once in awhile so that she could learn to respond to her name and he changed her diaper but other than that she had behaved herself. Hitsugaya was about halfway done with the paperwork when he felt a tug on his hakama. Sora was making a hand gesture by bringing her hand to her mouth.

"Are you hungry?" She stared at her father then did the gesture again while making baby noises.

Hitsugaya was glad that he got into the habit of showing her hand gestures because it was easier to tell what she wanted. Ukitake taicho had been the one to start it and suggested it to the young captain himself.

Hitsugaya reached for the baby bag and pulled out a banana. He sat her on his lap as he gave her little pieces of banana which she happily took. By the end of their lunch break Hitsugaya had banana smeared on his robes.

"You know you are quite the messy eater." Hitsugaya loved talking to her even though she doesn't really know what he's saying. She just stared at him with her large green eyes.

He walked to the sofa and lay down while still holding his daughter. He sat her up on his stomach and she held onto his pointer fingers, one in each hand. Hitsugaya was always disbelieving at how tiny she was. His hands hand to be ten times larger than her hands and her toes didn't extend out more than one and half centimeters. When he looked at her it was like he was looking into his own eyes and her hair was still rather short but there was a lot of it. He lay her down on his chest so that she could take a nap but she was restless. She was crawling on top of him and she kept pulling his hair. She even tried to get down to the floor.

"Sora, you need to take a nap." He wanted a nap as well. She responded by still trying to get down and uttered some baby words rather loudly as if she'd throw a tantrum if she didn't get her way.

She just kept moving around so he got up knowing his own daughter had won. He placed her on the floor and she happily crawled into the direction of his desk.

Where the hell is Matsumoto? It's past noon and she still hasn't come in. Sometimes thinking of Matsumoto's whereabouts stressed him out.

A messenger knocked on the door. "Hitsugaya taicho we have a delivery for you."

He slid the door open to see a rather young looking messenger boy. He took the stack of papers from the boy and thanked him. It was the shinigami academy applications. He slid the door close then set the applications down on his desk when he noticed that he didn't hear giggling or cooing and Sora was no where in sight. Hitsugaya became frantic. I can't believe I lost her. Could she have gone outside? Kuso!

He checked around the office first. She wasn't under the table, on the bottom bookshelf or under the couch which were her usual hiding or snoozing places. He was relieved to find her snoozing under his desk.

"I need to keep a better eye on you." He sighed to himself. He picked her up and lay on the sofa with her still in his arm.

"I love you Sora." Hitsugaya shut his eyes and joined his daughter in slumber.

"Taicho?" Matsumoto walked into the office and saw an unoccupied desk with a pile of work still on it. She took part of the stack and was just about to sit on the sofa when she saw her captain snoozing away while cradling Sora in his arm.

Matsumoto loved Sora almost as much as her captain did and was glad that he was lucky enough to have Sora in his life or…err…after life. She knew her captain's love for his daughter and Karin was true and unconditional. If it weren't for Sora, her captain would be completely broken. He was the last person she'd expect to ever have a child but he embraced it and was a rather good father. He seemed more patient and less temperamental and made him seem all the more grown up. It was nice to see a sensitive side to him although when Sora wasn't around, he was his old self so Matsumoto was more than happy whenever Sora was present. She smiled at them then sat at the desk. Matsumoto had been much more helpful since her captain was much more preoccupied with other things. She saw the neat stack of academy applications so she looked through it to see if Karin filled an application but there was no such luck.

"He's going to be so disappointed." Matsumoto mumbled to herself. Matsumoto had tried many times searching for Karin but she couldn't find her. She knew it was close to impossible considering the amount of people in all of Rukongai. A knock pulled Matsumoto out of her thoughts and she slid the door open to see Rukia.

"Shhh, they're sleeping." Matsumoto held a finger up to her lips.

Rukia nodded. "So I heard the applications came in, is she in yet?" Rukia whispered.

"Unfortunately, no." Matsumoto shook her head sadly.

Rukia walked to the sofa to see the sleeping father and daughter. She almost cried at the sight of them. The feeling of seeing something so precious was indescribable, there was so much love and it was just too cute.

Kurosaki Ichigo was starting to worry about finding Karin too since there was no sign of her. He visited Soul Society shortly after her death to see his niece and to try and look for Karin. There were many people who helped but no one could find her. They were sure that her soul went straight to Soul Society when she passed on because no one did a soul burial on her and no one has seen her or felt her reiatsu since she had her baby.

The Kurosaki's were all depressed for a few months after Karin died, especially Yuzu. Yuzu cried herself to sleep almost every night for two months straight and her husband Hanakari Jinta was worried about her. Worried that she would feel the unbelievable amount of emotional pain for the rest of her life and worried that she wouldn't be able to move on, because he knew that Karin wouldn't have wanted her to dwell on her untimely death.

Finding Karin was turning out to be a bigger challenge than everyone had anticipated but no one was losing hope. It hadn't been a year yet and they all knew that it would only be a matter of time.

Hitsugaya and Sora had been napping for a little over an hour when he jolted awake due to a spike in Sora's reiatsu and that would only lead to one thing. A crying fit. Hitsugaya stood up and held his daughter to his shoulder and gently rubbed her little back.

"Shh…shh…it's ok." Sora didn't know what it was but was somehow aware of her own reiatsu but whenever it went on a second long frenzy, she would cry. Her reiatsu was slightly present and it was usually at an even rate of flow. She didn't enjoy the way it felt when she could suddenly sense a higher amount in herself and she is a baby after all. He wondered if she had bad dreams that led to the flares and he noticed that other people's reiatsu didn't seem to bother her in any sort of way. There weren't many babies in Soul Society so there wasn't much information on it.

"Not even a year old and you have spirit power. You are definitely the child of a Shinigami." Hitsugaya was somewhat proud but also afraid and wished that her power would come later in life so that she could understand it.

Sora cried for almost 20 minutes before finally calming down and Hitsugaya gave her a bottle with water in it. His shoulder was wet from her tears and Sora's face was a little red from her crying.

"Is she ok taicho?"

"Yes, it was her reiatsu again." Hitsugaya's hair was a mess and he looked tired. The reiatsu spikes had been happening more frequently but only when she was asleep. All in all, Hitsugaya wondered what it was that her 8 month old daughter could possibly be dreaming about.

Hitsugaya and Matsumoto finished all the paper work and processed the applications. The day had finally come to an end and Hitsugaya was yearning for his futon and a nice hot bath.

Hitsugaya made all white meat chicken and rice for dinner. He cut the chicken into really small pieces and mixed it with o-kayu to feed to Sora. He sat on the floor with Sora in his lap as he spooned food into her mouth. She had quite the appetite and ate almost anything he fed her though sometimes it would take a few tries. Sometimes she'd spit things up more than once before finally eating it.

He filled a large portable basin with warm water and placed a naked Sora in it. He shampooed her hair and soaped her while she splashed water on him. When the time came to dry her off, Hitsugaya was almost as wet as she was. He took off his haori then picked her up out of her tub and wrapped a towel around her. He carefully dried her making sure to dry her hair especially so that she wouldn't get sick. Putting on her diaper used to be a challenge since she moved around so much but he learned to manage after gaining the patience necessary after having a child. He dressed Sora in the human baby pajamas that Matsumoto bought for her. It was white and had little pink butterflies all over them. He then placed her on his futon and watched as Sora yawned. This made Hitsugaya smile at his daughter. She lay down and stared at him, as usual, while he pinched her cheek affectionately and let her hold his finger.

"You're beautiful just like your mother. We're still looking for her but we'll find her, I promise." Sora's eyes started to droop and she let out another yawn. Her mouth was so tiny and she let out a small coo when she yawned and let go of the finger she was grasping in her tiny hand.

"You mother will love you as much as I do. Good night my sweet Sora." Hitsugaya kissed his now sleeping daughter and covered her with her little blanket.

Hitsugaya filled his tub and undressed. He made it a point to leave the bathroom door open just in case something was to happen. A hot bath was just what he needed to relax, the warm water felt nice on his tan skin and he almost felt some of the stress evaporate straight out of his pores. He leaned his head back over the ledge of the tub and thought about Karin and Sora, all the things they went through, how he would find Karin, what it would be like when Sora got older and Sora's increasing power. He was a little worried about her reiatsu and the possibility of it being caused by bad dreams and how it makes her cry. Sora was strong and didn't cry much but she scared herself with her own reiatsu. He would teach her the initial stages of controlling it when she was old enough but he didn't want to see her suffer from it now, being less than a year old.

Hitsugaya pondered in the bath a little while longer then dried him self and got dressed. He lay down next to his daughter who was sleeping peacefully and then fell into a much needed deep sleep.

"Toushirou!!! Come on we're going to be late."

"I coming." He was in his own captain's quarters in the 10th division barracks. He slid his door open and Karin stood there wearing her school uniform and a duffle bag strapped over her shoulder. He granted her access into Soul Society so that she could spend her winter break from school there to train and learn to control her reiatsu. That was their excuse at least.

"Let me take that." He took her bag from her and placed it in his bedroom.

"Arigatou."

"So where are we going?" Hitsugaya talked to Karin as he did to any other person, stern and nonchalant at the same time. He reminded her much of her own brother sometimes.

"You'll see." Karin had planned something out with Matsumoto for that special night.

They walked to Soukyoku hill where there was a blanket and picnic basket waiting for them.

"Why are we up here?"

"It'll be easier to see from here." Karin chirped.

"What's easier to…" Fireworks started exploding in the sky. There were so many colors and it lit up the dark sky making it harder to see the stars. They looked at the aerials in awe as the various colors reflected in their eyes.

Karin took a hold of Hitsugaya's hand. "Happy birthday Toushirou."

"Arigatou Kuro…Karin."

Karin smiled and kissed his cheek. Blood rushed to his cheeks and he was glad that it was dark.

He looked up at the sky but when he looked back to Karin, the scene started to change, there were swirls of color spinning around him, and it started to make him dizzy until his feet landed on something solid and everything appeared pitch black. His eyes adjusted then he noticed that it was night time and that he was standing in a street. He looked around and recognized that he was Karakura Town. He instinctively walked to his spot where he liked to look at the sky. There was a girl already there leaning on the railing, she turned around, smiled and waved.

"Ne Toushirou, I was waiting for you." He walked up next to her, took her hand and looked up at the stars with her. He looked down at Karin who looked back up at him in return. He placed his hand on her cheek and started to close the gap between them before she playfully pulled away. She ran away laughing then stopped when she was about ten feet away from him.

"Come on Toushirou." She gestured for him to follow her. She had a smile on her face, the moon shone on her illuminating her features, her big dark blue eyes, shiny black hair, her pale skin. She was beautiful as ever.

He ran after her then his world started to spin once again, darkness turning into blinding light. It was daytime now and Karin stood in front of him, dressed in a thick jacket, jeans, and boots.

"Toushirou, look." She held out her palm as snowflakes landed on it melting almost instantly. He smiled and took off his scarf to wrap around her neck, blush became apparent on her cheeks as he kissed her forehead. The snow started to pick up and soon everything was covered in the fresh white powder. He placed his hand on her cheek then she disappeared.

"Karin?"

"Toushirou, where are you?" Her voice was there but she was no where to be seen. It sounded distant yet close as it echoed in his ears and he became worried.

"I'm right here. Karin where are you?" Toushirou started running but didnt know why or where. "Karin?!"

The scenery changed a final time but much more quickly this time and without the swirls of color, light, or darkness. He was in Soul Society again outside of the 10th squad office. The sun was setting illuminating the sky a bright red-orange color. It was spring, cherry blossoms still blooming gracing everything in a pink fashion.

"Toushirou." He turned around and there she was, right in front of him. He reached out for her but her image was starting to fade.

"Karin."

"I'll always love you Toushirou." Karin held her hand out to him.

"Wait Karin, please don't leave." He reached out for her but wasn't able to grasp on anything.

Hitsugaya opened his eyes. Morning was close but it was still dark. All those memories, his dream, the thought of Karin made his heart hurt. He turned to look at Sora who was still sound asleep. She was what kept him sane and together since Karin's death but he still felt like his world had fallen apart.

"Karin." He whispered to himself.

Sora means sky and I thougt that was suitable since that's what he always looks at. Oh and o-kayu is like rice porridge-ish I guess. It's actually pretty good.

So here's the first chapter, sorry if it sucked and if you liked it than yay I'm glad you enjoyed it.