"Excuse me, Head Captain?" Toshiro asked, confused.
"Were my orders not clear, Captain?"
"It sounded like I was being ordered to baby-sit Ichigo Kurosaki's younger sister, sir."
"Guard, Captain Hitsugaya. I am afraid that since Kurosaki's defeat of the traitor Aizen his family has been targeted by hollows, including the surviving Arrancars."
"That may be, sir, but this does not seem like a job for a captain, especially with two powerful Soul Reapers in that family."
"Ichigo Kurosaki's powers are fading, and as the girl can see Soul Reapers and hollows, it was decided that she should be guarded by one she is familiar with."
Toshiro struggled to keep his usual froen from turning into a scowl. Leaving his squad in his lieutenant's hands for an extended period would be a disaster. And he knew this was going going to end with Kain roping him into another stupid soccer game. He still could not convince her that having someone with superhuman reflexes on her team was as far from fair as possible. Not to mention, Yuzu would be gushing nonstop over her twin's "boyfriend."
Now, I will tolerate no more excuses! You have a duty to perform, captain."
Toshiro bowed. "Yes, sir."/
"Ohhh! Look, Karin! It's your boyfriend!"
Karin face palmed. Toshiro barely kept his composure. To be a bodyguard he'd have to stay in the Kurosaki residence, which meant letting even Yuzu, who could not see spirits, see him in his gigai.
"Please, Yuzu, run on ahead to school. I need to talk to my friend."
"Ok!" As the happy-go-lucky girl ran off she added. "Maybe I should get a boyfriend too so I can be as adult as Karin!"
Toshiro thought steam would have come out of his ears if his powers weren't over ice. Karin's face had gone red as she yelled at her sister that she had no idea what she was talking about.
"Well," she said when Yuzu was out of sight, "it's good to see you again, Toshiro."
"Likewise."
"We've got a game this afternoon." she said, holding up a soccer ball. "Are you playing?"
He sighed. "I don't have a choice, do I?"
"Nope." she said, beginning to walk slowly to school herself.
"So, you've been attacked by hollows more often recent?"
"Yeah. Ichii saved me, but he's got school himself, and other responsibilities. He can't watch over me all the time.
Toshiro actually smiled a tiny bit. Karin was unusually serious for her age, much like himself. Her affectionate nickname for her big brother was one of the few childish mannerisms she indulged in, like his calling Hinamori Momo much of the time.
But something was wrong with this picture.
"I'm a captain. My responsibilities far surpass anything your brother, as only a substitute Soul Reaper, has to do."
"Obviously your boss thinks this is more important."
Why?/
There were plenty of trees around her school. That allowed Toshiro to watch Karin from branches while she attended her classes. He slipped out of his gigai, so that no one else could see him and mistake him for a delinquent playing hooky.
During Karin's third period his communicator began beeping, signaling that there was a hollow nearby. He took it out to see where exactly the monster was. It was farther away than he had expected, but heading in the direction of the school.
Toshiro flash stepped away, drawing his Zanpakto. A few minutes later and he was facing the hollow.
It was large, weighing at least six tons. But it was not an Arrancar. Toshiro doubted any seated officer would have a problem dispatching it. A single leap to put him at the same height of its head followed by an overhand swing and the battle, if such a one-sided confrontation deserved that title, was over.
The total time he had been gone was barely five minutes, but it was long enough for Karin to notice. She looked worried as she stared out of her classroom window. Toshiro smiled and gave her a thumbs up when he had flash stepped back to the tree, appearing in the exact same position he had been before. She smiled back and turned her attention to her lesson once again./
"There was a hollow, wasn't there?"
"Yes. But it was nothing to worry about."
"Yup. No hollow's a match for 'Captain Hitsugaya.'"
"If only that were true." he said under his breath, remembering how far he had been pushed by the third most powerful Espada.
"What was that?"
"Nothing. What time's your game?"
"The…game?" she stammered. "Oh no! I forgot!" She looked at her watch. "Normally I'd run there instead of walking! Now we'll never make it in time!
"Unless…" Toshiro let out an exasperated sigh. What she was asking was a totally inappropriate use of his powers.
"All right." He removed his gigai again and held it with one arm while he picked Karin up around the waste with the other. He began leaping from building to building.
"Whoa." Karin said, admiring speed, the height, and the fact that Toshiro's balance was so perfect that she never felt a bump.
Truth be told, he was not moving all that fast. A flash step would have been to dangerous for Karin to experience. But it was more than enough for their purpose./
Toshiro had decided to interfere as little as possible in the soccer game. He intercepted the first goal attempt of the opposing team, having determined that their goalie would not be able to stop it, and passed it to Karin. He prevented enough goals to ensure that that his team did not lose, but he did not take a single shot of his own. As a result, the game was decided by one point.
"Thanks." Karin said after it was over.
"Don't mention it." They mere walking by the spot on the top of the hill Toshiro had liked to stop at. Watching the sunset reminded him of his early childhood with Hinamori, before Aizen came between them.
But it was late in the school year, which meant that the sunset was much later in the day than it was when he and Karin had first met.
"Doesn't your family have dinner at seven?" he asked. Her father in particular was strict about the family being together at dinner, the only thing he was strict about. They'd need to hurry home to make it in time.
"It's all right. Yuzu had an after school program today, and she needed to get the ingredients from the grocery store afterwards, so it'll be later tonight.
Toshiro's eyes narrowed. Something was very wrong with this situation.
But his communicator beeped again before he could say anything.
"Another hollow?" Karin asked, sounding afraid.
"Yes." And it was close.
A shadow appeared on the ground between them. An instant later the hollow landed, cracking the pavement all around.
High above it Toshiro held Karin in his arms. His gigai lay crushed under the hollow's feet. They landed twenty meters away from the hollow.
This hollow was the size of a house, and much more dangerous than the last one. It swung a clawed hand, from which dart-like objects were launched at Toshiro and Karin.
Toshiro leapt again, dodging the deadly projectiles. By himself, even this hollow would be no problem. But he was holding Karin, who could not handle his true speed.
He kept on jumping around, trying to find an opening large enough for him to finish it at the speed he was willing to move. But it could fire its projectile from both hands and thereby cover itself from any angle.
"Toshiro! Put me down!" Karin yelled.
"Are you crazy?" he yelled back. He tried leaping far way so that he could drop her off at a safe distance and return, but the hollow leapt after him.
"Let me distract it!" she yelled again. It was then that he noticed she had managed to hold onto her soccer ball.
"All right."
Toshiro leapt one last time , straight up. He let go of Karin with one hand, so that he was only holding her around the waste. His free hand reached over his shoulder to grasp his sword.
The hollow leapt after them again, intended to slash them with its claws as they fell.
"Not yet." Toshiro said as Karin held the soccer ball out. They were still climbing higher. "Not yet.
"Now!" he yelled as they reached the top of their arc. Karin dropped the ball and kicked it with all her might. Toshiro never understood how it became covered in blue energy whenever she did that with hollows around, but it had its uses.
The ball struck the hollow in the face cracking its mask. Its arms spread as it reacted, more from surprise than pain.
That was all of an opening Toshiro needed. His brought his sword down with him as he fell, cutting the hollow's head in half.
"Whew." Karin said when they were safe. "I don't think Ichii would have come in time. You really saved me this time."
Toshiro did not respond. That was the second hollow to appear reasonably close to Karin thatt day. There just might have been something to the Head Captain's orders after all.
"Let's go home." he said. "I'll even carry you."
"Don't you think we should get rid of your gigai first? So no one wonders about the dead kid?"
He nodded. "Yes. You're right. I'll have to get a new one form Kisuke in the morning. But the sooner we get you home the better I'll feel."/
Toshiro stopped in front of the Kurosaki residence.
"What is it?"
"There's something wrong with the reiatsu here."
"Maybe it's Ichii."
He shoo his head "Definitely not." 'And it's not Isshin either.'
Whatever it was, it was powerful. Possibly as much as a low level Arrancar. The lights in the house were of, even though he and Karin should have been the last ones home.
"Stay behind me, Karin." he ordered as he tentatively reached for the door. It was unlocked, a bad sign with no one home.
There was definitely someone there, he decided as he stepped into the house. But it was too dark to see, too dark to even be natural.
"Who's there?" he called. "Show yourself!"
There was a clicking sound as the light was turned on.
"Surprise!"
Toshiro's mouth dropped. In the Kurosaki living room were dozens of people, from Ichigo's friends, to Urahara's group, to many Soul Reapers from the Soul Society. There were party decorations set up all around.
"What the hell is this?"
"It's a surprise party for you, Captain!" his lieutenant, Rangiku said happily.
"What for?"
"Think of it as a thank you for doing such a good job protecting Karakura Town when the Arrancars were attacking." Ichigo said. "Especially while I was away undergoing my hollowification training."
"But I wasn't the only one." Toshiro protested.
"But you were our fearless leader." Madarame Ikkaku said. Toshiro looked around. Sure enough. All of the team he commanded in the world of the living were present.
"What do you think we'd have done without you keeping organized and focused?" Renji Abarai added.
He turned back to Karin. "This was your doing, wasn't it?"
She grinned. "I had help."
Captain Ukitake spoke up. "She asked Ichigo, who asked, Rukia, who asked, me, and I asked the Head Captain."
"And he agreed to have so many captains and lieutenants leave for a party in the world of the living?"
"Acutally, Captain Kyoraku said, "he was quite pleased. He said it reflects well on the Thirteen Court Guard Squads. He'd be here himself if he wasn't doing much of our squads' paperwork. The old man likes to party as much as I do, and you should see him drink!"
Toshiro made a mental note not to drink anything. He knew the moment he saw Rangiku that there would be a lot of alcoholic beverages, but with Kryoaku there anything that wasn't was likely to be spiked.
"I hope you like everything." Oriheme said. "We got cake-"
"And candy!"
Toshiro groaned when he saw the tiny lieutenant of the eleventh division, Yachiru. "Don't tell be Kanpachi's here."
"Nope. Kenny didn't come. I came cause there's candy!"
"-and Lieutenant Hinamori said you loved watermelon, so we got lots of that."
"Hinamori?" Toshiro spun around.
There she was, sitting on the couch, paler than the moon.
"What are you-are you well enough to be here?"
"Oh she's fine." Captain Unohana said, standing behind her. "In fact," she said pleasantly, "I thought it would do her good, to go to a celebration."
Toshiro knew better than to argue with the Fourth Division captain, so he let it slide.
"I can't get up, Whitey," Hinamori said, "so you're going to have to come her to get a hug."
Toshiro was about to tell her not to call him 'Whitey' in front of so many people when he was seized from behind and pushed into a chair. He was then lifted and bounced though the air by Captains Kyoraku and Ukitake, who began singing 'For He's a Jolly Good Fellow.' Both of them were already drunk.
Eventually they bounced the chair so hard that he fell out, landing in front of Urahara Kisuke. "Enjoying yourself?" the older man asked, sucking on a lollipop. "I was lucky to get just this before Yachiru ate all of the candy."
"I assume the weird reiatsu I felt was your doing, as is the living room being able to hold all of these people."
"Of course!" Urahara exclaimed proudly, holding up a squirt bottle. "The Urahara Shop's newest invention! Space Juice! Just spray it on the walls and the inside of whatever room you're in will grow!"
Toshiro nodded. That actually sound useful, for once.
"Yachiru!" he heard Oriheme yell. "Toshiru's supposed to get the first slice of cake!"/
After the party had died down and most of the guests had gone home Toshiro approached Karin.
"All that about your sister staying late at school, that was just an excuse to keep me away while they set this up."
"Yup. Yuzu doesn't know about Soul Reapers, so we arranged this on a night when she would be sleeping over at a friend's house. My dad wasn't here either."
And the hollows were really just a coincidence?"
"I think so. There's actually been less of them lately."
There was a loud noise that startled them until they realized it was Kyoraku snoring. He, Rangiku, and a few others were passed out from all the alcohol they drank.
"Thanks." he said. "I needed to unwind a bit. It's been forever since I had…fun."
"It's the least I could do. After all, we're not really going to be seeing each other again, are we?"
"The sadness in her voice cut through Toshiro like Aizen's Zanpakto. Once Ichigo's powers faded completely, the Soul Reapers would not be allowed to see him or his family anymore.
"Probably, but you never know."
'Oh, no.' he thought as she wiped her eyes. 'She's not crying, is she?'
"Yeah, you never know. And even if we don't, we'll still always be friends, right?"
"I'll always be your friend, Karin."/
Unbeknownst to the two youngsters, the eldest Kurosakis were listening at the top of the stairs.
"Yuzu was right." Ichigo said. "Our Karin really is growing up."
"As is the Soul Society's resident boy genius." Isshin responded. "Still…"
"It would never work out." Ichigo finished. "And not just because of my powers."
"No. She'll age normally, while he's going to stay Peter Pan for a while."
"Shame." Ichigo said.
"Yes. But I can tell you from experience Ichigo, it's better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all."