Well, let's assume that the winter war takes more than 5 years, and during that time Toshiro and Karin grow closer as he stays in the real world with his lieutenant most of the time. They are seeing each other, and of course Ichigo knows about this.(You can imagine how he is gonna act, but that is not gonna be the main point in the story) Toushiro also grows up, and you will find out soon why. And ohhh!! Hinamori, she will appear in the story too, but right now she is the coma because she cannot accept the truth about Aizen.

I guess that's all that you need to know :)

--

A shadow crept through the open window of Kurosaki residence; it walked closer to a girl with a straight black hair who was sleeping peacefully on the bed next to the window.

"Karin" Toushiro said softly.

He wasn't sure he wanted to wake her up. Somehow he just wanted to keep looking at her liked this. She looked beautiful and vulnerable in the middle of the night. Her face lit up in the moon light, her breathing was calm and steady, and he found that his cheek flushed slightly as he was looking at her.

"Can't sleep?" He asked her as he felt her awaking slowly.

"Not really, I just feel like someone is watching me, and it's you Toushiro." She replied quietly, smiling back at him "Why do you come here so late at night?"

"I need to talk to you." He answered, not entirely sure if he wanted to talk to her.

"What's wrong?" She questioned him worriedly.

"You know," He said after awhile. "I'm not supposed to be here right now."

"Are you alright?"

"We have to stop what we are doing." He continued without answering her question.

"What are you talking about? Are you saying we should break up? Toushiro, we have already talked about this and we have gotten this far. Why do you want to quit now? I already told you I'm not afraid of the Soul Society."

"Karin," He said seriously, looking at her for the first time. "This is not about the Soul Society. This is all about you I don't want you to get hurt. We are at war, and I don't want to drag you into it. You have a life here, and I don't, I'm dead and all I do is fighting."

She was utterly stunned. She knew this time she couldn't stop him. He had already made up his mind.

"Toushiro." She said sadly.

He stayed quiet. He didn't know what to do or what to say to her to make her feel better, when he didn't even feel good himself. So he turned back towards the window, lingering there for a moment. His mind was racing, because he wasn't sure if breaking up with her was the best solution, but he knew he had to do it, he had to focus on the war and he knew he couldn't stand it if someone hurt her because of him."

Then, without a glance, he jumped out of the window.

Toushiro woke up trembling, and covered in sweat.

It was only at night, when he was trying to sleep that he allowed his thoughts to move to her. He knew he missed her. He wanted to see her, to be near her, and hear her laugh again. He broke up with her to protect her, but that didn't stop the empty feeling in his stomach. It had been liked this three month since he broke up with her.

He couldn't get that dream to go away. It seemed like every time he closed his eyes, their last moment together kept repeating itself every night.

"She is fine." He told himself softly, while trying to calm himself before going back to sleep again.

...

The door of the 10th squad office slid open, revealing the young captain who looked tired and miserable.

"Taicho!!" Matshumoto cried in surprise, she didn't expect to see him this early in the morning. It's true that he was a workaholic, but working at 5 a.m. in the morning, he would have been crazy if he did that.

"I can't sleep." He replied, walking to his desk.

"It's her again, isn't it?" She asked him sympathically. She knew he didn't get enough sleep since he broke up with Karin, because he kept thinking about her. And she knew he was still in love with her, that was why he felt extremely guilty about it.

He nodded and sighed, while sitting on his chair.

"Taicho, does it ever cross your mind that maybe you are overacting?"

He glared at his lieutenant, but it wasn't his usual glare because it was full of sadness.

"I know what you mean, but I don't want to put her in danger. Her rietsu was high enough to attract any hollows or arrancars, she doesn't need me around her, she was the perfect target for them and you know that."

Matsumoto sighed, she hated seeing him like this.

"You know we have to go to the real world today, right? And you will probably see her again because she is Ichigo's sister."

"I know. Let's see what will happen when we get there."

...

Toushiro and Matsumoto had to come to Karakura town to prepare for the battle, as the 10th squad had taken the responsibility from the Gotei 13, to guard the real world. Under normal circumstances, he would be excited and happy because it meant seeing Karin again. But he felt dreadful to come back this time. What would he do if he saw her again? And what would she do if she saw him? The last time they met didn't go very well, he broke up with her and turned away to leave immediately after saying what he had to say. He didn't even stay to hear her response, because he couldn't.

The note attached on the door of Orihime's place just made everything worse for Toushiro too; Orihime's wasn't there because she was on a trip to Tokyo with her friend. Though the note said they could come in and stayed there, he felt that it was rude to do so. Urahara's shop wasn't even an option for him and his lieutenant, because that place was already too crowded. So there was only one place left for them to stay and it was Kurosaki residence.

"Taicho, are you sure?" Matsumoto questioned him upon knowing his decision.

He nodded and led his lieutenant.

Everything went almost perfect there, He and Matsumoto went patrolling early in the morning and came back late in the evening everyday. The worst part of everyday, however, was a dinner time that Yuzu insisted that everyone eat together. And each time it got harder and harder for him not to stare at Karin who sat across the table. They talked to each other as if nothing was wrong, but he couldn't draw his attention from her, and often found himself not paying attention to the rest of the conversation around him as he looked at her.

This went unnoticed to everyone, but across the table Karin was having a similar problem. She quickly hated her dinner time, no matter how good Yuzu's cooking was. She hated being near him, or heard him talking. She ate less and less because she couldn't seem to focus on her food when she felt her eyes drawn towards him like a magnet. The dance between them kept going until they caught each other's eyes, both of them would immediately look away and stare into their plates for the rest of the meal.

Overall, Everything went better than he expected. Matsumoto had been helping him with a paper work and report that he had to send back to the Soul Society, though it was not that much but he knew she tried to him relieve some stress, especially after seeing Karin. He and Ichigo went along quite well even Ichigo knew that he and Karin broke up. He knew deep down, Ichigo was relieved that he didn't drag Karin to the war with him, that was why Ichigo didn't annoy him as usual. The only problem for him was Karin, but he kept telling himself that it would be over soon, when the war ended he would no longer see her and both of them would not suffer anymore.

Toushiro was lost in his thoughts while he was walking out of the house. He didn't notice that the door was slid open until Karin walked into him.

"Oh!" Karin said as she saw him.

She was shocked to see him. He was the reason she came home late almost everyday. Everyone knew she loved playing soccer and she had couple friends playing with her after school. But since he came and stayed here, she made it her priority after school, because she knew it was the best excuse that she would have.

"Umm.. I'm sorry." He said awkwardly. He wasn't sure that he was sorry for walking into her or breaking up with her.

"It's okay," She said. "Why are you here?, Are you patrolling this late?"

"No, I'm not. I'm just thinking about something."

Silence.

Neither of them didn't know what to say.

"Well," She said, biting her lips. "I guess, if we don't have anything to say to each other, I'm going to bed then."

"Wait, Karin." He immediately grabbed her arms trying to stop her.

She looked at him, and waited for him to continue what he was going to say, but he found that he couldn't think of anything to say to her anymore.

"I see, you really have nothing to say to me, Toushiro." She said finally and walking into the house, leaving him alone.

...

Toushiro walked to his favourite spot, he was deeply disturbed by the way Karin acted towards him, but he knew this was the only thing that could be expected from her. She was practically left in the dark, he didn't tell her the real reason why he broke up with her. He sighed, and looked up to the sky above Karakura town.

"Kurosaki!!" He turned around and snapped immediately.

He was annoyed, extreamly annoyed. He just escaped his free spirited lieutenant and her shopping plan to have some time alone with himself, only to find that everything had to end abruptely because the soccer ball hit his head.

Karin smirked, clearly enjoying the sight of him being annoyed.

"Hey, Toushiro. Long time no see," She replied back, running towards him and acting oblivious to his reaction towards her earlier. "You looked taller by the way, what's wrong with you, I thought Shinigami wasn't supposed to be growing up?"

He groaned.

"I thought I will never see you again." She continued.

"I have something to do here."

"So how long you are going to be here this time?" She asked curiously.

"I don't know"

"Well, I kinda miss you, Toushiro. It's hard to find a good soccer player around here, so if you're free. Maybe we ca-"

"I'm not free, Kurosaki." He replied simply, didn't even looked at her.

"Is it wrong to be friendly?" She asked bluntly. "You know, I never see you act friendly around anyone. You are so up tight and boring all the time."

He gave her a glare, and was about to open his mouth to protest. But the weird gurgling noise came out. He immediately touched his stomach.

"Are you hungry?" She asked

"No, not really."

"Come on, Toushiro. You dont have to lie. Let's go, maybe I can find something for you."

With that said, she started to walk away, looking back at him as if asking him to follow her, and he did.

Toushiro smiled to himself, this was the memory that made him happy.

"Taicho!!" His lieutenant called him from the distance. "We need to go now, Karin disappaears from the house and everyone is looking for her."

--

Please review, I find it hard to develop a story, without the readers' opinion. I plan to bring Gin back. Should I make him a villian or a good guy?