I stifled a yawn and flicked my black hair out of my gray eyes as I double-checked the cast of a ten-year-old boy's fingers and wrist. His mother had come knocking on my door at midnight, which was half an hour ago I noted with a twinge of jealousy at my peacefully sleeping sister. The boy had a few broken fingers that he had gotten when a few school bullies had started threatening his younger sister. It was easy to set the broken bones, but I wanted to be certain that in my sleepy state I hadn't done anything wrong.

"I'm really sorry for coming in so late, but we live just down the street and the hospital is quite a ways away. I can pay double what you normally charge. The Kurosaki clinic has always been here to help us. Thank you Karin," The mother said, but from the looks of the bags under her eyes, and the fairly ratty look of her pajamas, I could tell she really couldn't afford it. I walked over to the cabinet with the jar of suckers to give one to the young boy.

"It's no problem at all, we're here to help anyone in need. It was a simple break so don't worry too much about paying. If you leave your number with me, my dad can call you when he gets back from helping at the hospital," I forced a smile in reassurance as the woman put the now-sleeping boy's coat on. He was clutching his sucker to his chest as he slept, and I couldn't help but be reminded of my brother Ichigo at that age, always watching out for Yuzu and I. I voiced my thoughts aloud, "He reminds me of Ichigo when he was that old. There was this kid who was in the year above Yuzu and me, and every time we walked to school he would push us around a little with his friends. Usually I was able to handle it just fine, and I'd punch him back, but one day he got the better of me and let's just say that I was more black and blue than normal when I got home. Ichigo walked with us the next day and this time it was the boy who went home black and blue."

"I remember your father yelling at Ichigo about that, we could hear him all the way down the street. How is Ichigo nowadays?" The woman had succeeded in getting the coat on the boy and was now giving me her undivided attention. Great. I stiffened a little at the seemingly harmless question about Ichigo.

Ever since the Winter War eight years ago, Ichigo hasn't really been around. Well, I should say that ever since the whole problem with that lost substitute has gotten cleared up he hasn't been around much. He finished high school then told everyone who didn't know about the Soul Society he was going to college in Tokyo, and then most likely working there. In reality he's been there most of the time, but he's able to come back once or twice a month to visit for a few days. It must be something he worked out with Head Captain Yamamoto

"He's going to college in Tokyo, and he already has a job lined up at one of the hospitals there. We get to see him quite a bit, but he's been really busy between college and residency at the hospital," A sharp pain flashed in my head, and I winced noting the large disturbance in the spiritual energy in the town. That has to be a Vasto Lord if not a rogue Arrancar, my soul pager should go off- the ringing that sounded through the mostly empty clinic seemingly read my thoughts, "I need to take this call, just write your phone number on the pad next to you on the counter." I told her and gestured to the notepad sitting there with a pen on it.

I picked up my soul pager, which thankfully looked like a cell phone, and looked for where the Hollow was. It was on the other side of town and I felt the slight rise in pressure as a Shinigami got to it. The spiritual pressure seemed very familiar, one that I recognized but couldn't quite place. Then I let go of my tightly-controlled reiatsu to let whichever Shinigami who was fighting it know I was getting ready to help, "I have to go and help someone on the other side of town, and I hate to rush… you." I turned around and trailed off as I noticed the woman had left already.

As I gathered all the supplies I would possibly need to heal any wounds the Shinigami might get, my mind drifted back to how I got into this kind of a deal.

Age Thirteen…

I was only thirteen at the time, but already I had figured out about the world of the Shinigami from a certain white-haired boy captain. At the time, I had been buying as many anti-ghost supplies from Urahara as he claimed he could safely sell to me. It was about one month after something I'd come to learn in the near future as a fight against a team called Xcution during which Ichigo had regained his Shinigami powers.

"One moment Karin, I have to keep those supplies in the back as you know so my other customers won't ask questions," Urahara said as he grinned mischievously and went to his back storage rooms. I bit back a retort about his lack of customers since I couldn't afford to not have the supplies seeing as how I really didn't want to worry about ghosts popping up while I was showering or changing, so I kept quiet. There was the sound of an opening door and footsteps behind me, and three black butterflies flew past my head.

"Karin, what are you doing here?" I heard Ichigo ask behind me. I spun around and was stunned when I saw Ichigo in his Shinigami uniform. He obviously hadn't expected to see me there as he was still in denial of me knowing anything about Shinigami. Of course I had learned from my friend- or at least I considered him a friend even though it had been two years since I'd seen him- Squad Ten Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya about Shinigami almost two years ago.

"I'm here for anti-ghost supplies, where were you at?" I asked and almost smirked at the way he squirmed. I would have enjoyed the moment more if I wasn't so mad at Ichigo for not just admitting to me about what he was. He thought he was doing me a favor by not telling my, but the truth was, those monsters keep attacking me and my friends and not knowing how to effectively kill them was only endangering me further.

"I was, um, uh-well Karin, you can see me?" Ichigo stuttered and I rolled my eyes. I was about to reply when another voice spoke before me.

"Who is this Kurosaki?" A tall man with black hair and white hair pieces that notified he was of noble status asked and looked at me. He wore the same white coat as Toshiro, which must mean he was a Captain with the Shinigami. Although he was handsome (But way too old for me and my preferences) he had cold features that probably could have frozen weaker-willed humans. Another man that I had seen with my brother before also came out from the doorway, the man with red spikey hair, bandana and weird tribal tattoos.

"I'm Karin Kurosaki, who wants to know?" I said crossing my arms and jutting my chin defiantly. The red-headed man and my brother chuckled but shut up at a look from the black-haired one.

"I am Byakuya Kuchiki, head of the Kuchiki clan and the Captain of the Sixth Squad of the Gotei Thirteen. This is my lieutenant Renji Abarai. In the future I expect you to address my with more respect," the man said and I forced myself not to roll my eyes, "As for you Kurosaki-"

"Which one?" I asked and Captain Kuchiki glanced my way with slight disdain. While I normally tried to respect those who are older than me, or at least ones with authority, this guy's holier-than-thou attitude was getting on my nerves.

"Ichigo, I am bringing her to the Seireitei immediately. You know what we were discussing before we left, and she may be able to help with a decision. Besides," Captain Kuchiki looked at Urahara who was reentering with my order, "She must be getting powerful is she's buying anti-ghost supplies of the highest potency. From the force of her reiatsu, she seems to be leaking just as much as you were when I first came across you. She needs to be taught to control herself, and I don't trust the methods of Urahara one bit. Abarai, you will help Ichigo with Hollow elimination and konso in Karakura while I bring the other Kurosaki to the Seireitei. Go." Renji and Ichigo both seemed reluctant to go, but Renji left quickly after sparing me a knowingly this-is-gonna-suck look. But I mean he left really quickly; he was here one moment and gone the next.

"Karin," Ichigo said, and motioned me over, "I'll explain everything later, okay?" He looked so sincere, but I was still pissed at him. Although I understood where he was coming from, I did it with Yuzu often enough, he had been keeping the truth from me for almost two years.

"You bet you will!" I snorted and turned back towards Captain Kuchiki, "Let's go then." Without waiting for me, Captain Kuchiki walked through the doors and into a long dark tunnel. I jogged after him and had to keep a brisk pace since his strides were much larger. After a few moments of silence I finally had to ask all of the questions I had inside of me.

"How long has Ichigo been a Shinigami, not including the time he lost his powers? How long has he even had his powers back? Where are we going?" I saw the corner of Captain Kuchiki's mouth twitch first upward then downward, and his eyebrow twitched. He never answered any of my questions as we kept our same quick pace through the tunnel, but he seemed slightly annoyed with the all the talking I was doing.

Eventually we reached the end of the tunnel and came out into bright sunshine. Once my eyes adjusted to the light I gasped in surprise. The place we had come out didn't look like anything I'd ever seen before, except for maybe in history books. All of the buildings and streets looked like the old-fashioned ones I had seen on a school trip to a town that was modeled to look like an old village. I liked that trip, they even had actors going about and pretending like they were from that time period. I was on a large cliff that overlooked this city and there was a gleaming white tower next to the cliff that gave me the creeps. There was also a tall white circular wall that surrounded what I now guessed to be the Seireitei completely. Outside of this wall there were many villages that seemed to be less prosperous than the Seireitei and more rural.

"The other Captains will be here momentarily" Captain Kuchiki said without looking at me, "I notified them of our arrival just now. I suggest you show them more respect than you did to me, some of them will not be so forgiving if you forget their titles." As he finished speaking several blurs appeared and they left the wind whirling around me. I held my skirt down and cursed the existence of such unconventional clothing. Just as quickly as the blurs appeared they turned into actual people. All of them were wearing similar jackets but none of them looked exactly the same. One thing was for certain though, I could tell that they were all very powerful people, definitely all worthy of the positions they held. I scanned the crowd until I saw the only captain I knew, Toshiro…

The boy in question had finally grown a little taller, not much mind you, but he was now taller than me. His pure white hair was less spikey than before, now cut shorter, but he still had that one piece of hair hanging down into his face. He no longer looked like an elementary student, he looked like he could pass for fifteen back home. His large teal eyes were now a little less, for lack of a better description, round and childlike. Not that the emotions and intelligence they carried was childlike, just the shape. His features were becoming more defined, his jaw more chiseled (not that I was checking that out or anything) and his cheekbones as well. My heart fluttered a little and I turned my head to look at the other Captains with a faint blush dusting my cheeks.

"What is the meaning of this Byakuya?" An ancient-looking man with a long beard tied together with a leather string asked. His eyes were closed but the illusion didn't fool me, I knew he was observing everything that was going on. Goat Chin often acted the same way, that's how he always knew when I'd been hurt but didn't admit it.

"Kurosaki's younger sister has been showing signs of becoming too spiritually aware and powerful. She has apparently been going to Urahara's shop and buying what he calls anti-ghost supplies. I brought her here so we can figure out what to do with her," Captain Kuchiki said, not looking at me. Everyone turned to look at the old man and I crossed my arms and huffed in indignation. I'm the one they're talking about, yet they act as if though I'm not even here? That's just rude, you'd think if they're as old as they seem to act like they are they'd have enough manners to not ignore me.

"I know," A hulking mass of man with black spikey hair that had bells at the tips and an eye patch over one eye said stepping forward grinning maniacally. My first instinct was to cringe then run away, "You could let me fight her. If she's really a Kurosaki, she should be fun to fight!"

"Or we could run a few experiments to discover the best course of action," A frightening man in a white mask and makeup said, with an even creepier grin. That's it, I'm done being ignored.

"Excuse me?" I interjected, "I am right here, don't you think you could just ask me? I want to help you guys, but I don't want to become a Shinigami. I don't want to go through any processes at this point that I could possibly die from, I can't leave Yuzu all alone. She's already lost our mother and practically lost Ichigo since he spends so much time here, and I can't afford to run the risk of her losing me as well." I looked around the assorted captains and saw mixed reactions on their faces. Two captains, one in with a pink kimono on over his white jacket the other with long white hair, giving me sympathetic looks, while on the other side of the spectrum a young woman with two braids glaring at me. I couldn't help but look over at my friend that I hadn't seen in two years. He had no expression on his face, save for a small frown, which was something about him that hadn't changed.

"It's like I said earlier," A smiling man with blonde hair said, "We really don't want three Kurosaki's roaming around Soul Society and the World of the Living as Shinigami. I know, you're different personality wise," The man added hastily after I opened my mouth to protest, "But you're both powerful and leaking reiatsu like there's no tomorrow."

"Shinji has a point," A woman with long black hair tied into a braid in front of her body added quietly, giving me a small smile before turning to the others, "We can't force her to do something that could possibly kill her. What if we instead train her to control her reiatsu and send her back to have Urahara finish her training?"

"She already has control of her spiritual pressure unconsciously. I believe that in the report I gave to you Head Captain Yamamoto I told you this fact. If we can teach her some kido, she should be able to deal with minor Hollows she may stumble across and help heal any Shinigami who need help," Toshiro said, stepping forward. My jaw dropped a little but I pulled it back up right away. Wait, so at least this Head Captain Yamamoto and Toshiro know about me. They could have already come up with a plan for me and 'd have never known about it!

"I agree," The Head Captain said, "We can have Urahara and Yoruichi train her in the World of the Living so she won't miss school, but she gets the sufficient teaching. They can train her to control her reiatsu and how to use kido so that she can still help us in when needed. Captain Kurotsuchi, give her a soul pager so that she can know if her assistance is needed. Do you agree to this compromise Kurosaki Karin?" All eyes turned to me and I grinned broadly. At least they found a way to make me happy. This way Ichigo won't have to worry about us at home, I'll be protecting my family, and helping those who keep us safer.

"Hell yeah!"

Age Sixteen…

The next time a Shinigami had come to visit me specifically, I was sixteen. I had left school a few minutes early because Goat Chin needed my help at the clinic, the school didn't mind since they were used to it. As I was walking down the street about two blocks away from my house, four guys came up to me.

"What do you want?" I asked with my expression blank… okay so I was scowling and sort of glaring at them, but they had it coming! The four of them looked like they came from a tough group, and I wasn't taking chances.

"So you're Kurosaki's sister, huh? I say we teach him a lesson by beating her up!" One of them said. I'm guessing it was the adrenaline pumping through my system, but I've never remembered what any of them look like. The others heartily agreed and the four of them advanced slowly. By this time I had been training with Yoruichi for about two years plus some help from Tatsuki every now and then, and they had taught me well. Yoruichi wanted to teach me shunpo, but couldn't because of my human body being a sort of limiter on my abilities. However to make up for it I'd been trained especially for speed and agility, along with strengthening both my kido and body.

"I'm not sure that such a good idea," I drawled and with angry shouts they ran at me. Quickly I kicked the first guy in the stomach, and then gave him a left hook to the jaw. He was down for the count, and then there were three. The second guy managed to land a blow to my stomach and I skidded back several feet and landed on my back. The three remaining guys stood over me and I took a deep breath. I swept out my feet and knocked down two of the guys who both smacked their heads on the ground then I jumped up. The third guy I punched in the nose and he was down as well.

"It might not be a good idea to get up again until I leave," I said looking at the four teenagers on the ground, then turned away but felt a hand on my wrist that pulled me back. I glanced back and saw that one of the guys was back up and tried to pull me towards him.

"Why don't we have a little fun, huh Kurosaki?" He said and I stiffened until I felt someone else in behind of me. The presence was familiar and comforting, someone I counted as an ally.

"I think," I deep voice that sent shivers down my spine said from right in front of me. I turned and saw Toshiro standing there without an expression on his face. His eyes however were hard with anger, "That she told you to stay down until she left. So stay down, now!" Toshiro snapped and the guy, being the spineless fool he was, dropped to the ground, "You," He turned back to me and grabbed my other wrist. His eyes were hard to read, but they glinted with anger and something else, "Are coming with me."

We had left the street and he had brought me to the spot on the hill by the railing. We were both leaning against the railing in silence, until I couldn't stand it anymore, "So why are you here Toshiro? I mean, not that I'm unhappy you're here, it's just kind of a surprise." I looked over and saw that he was staring at the sky and I checked to make sure that Goat Chin had gotten my message about not being able to make it home.

"I'd been told to come and see how your training has been going. What's the first thing I see when I come here? You being taken by surprise by a few weak humans and I had to intervene," Toshiro said, only turning to look at me at the end of his sentence.

"I was doing just fine!" I scowled at him and I must have been dreaming or something because his eyes softened a little.

"Are you okay?" He asked softly and my voice caught in my throat. His expression was hard to place somewhere between relief and dare I say happiness, but it made my heart skip and speed up and butterflies erupt in my stomach. All I could do was nod and we turned back to look back at the sky.

Age Nineteen…

I hadn't seen Toshiro since, although many of the other captains had all come along at some point, whether it was to check up on me or here fighting a Hollow. I was disappointed by the fact of which that the boy captain I had idolized as a kid and crushed on as a teenager hadn't come to see me yet. The crush hadn't gone away at all over time, and the old saying distance makes the heart grow fonder seemed to be true in my case. Sometimes I wondered if he had grown at all in the three years since I'd seen him. I daydreamed about Toshiro coming to see me occasionally, although this wasn't the time to be thinking of that.

Now I was running along the sleeping streets of Karakura Town in my sleeping shorts and tank top trying to hurry and get to the familiar but still unknown reiatsu. I kept a close eye on the fluctuating reiatsu of the fight and gasped when the familiar one exploded with power when I was only a block away. Obviously the Soul Society didn't want to joke around, they had sent a Captain to fight the Arrancar and whoever it was just released their limiter. I rushed around the corner and found myself at the park where my friends and I had played soccer against those middle school students so long ago. Now however, the place was a battlefield full of craters and trees that looked like they had been snapped like twigs.

There were two figures fighting in the air above me, and my heart stopped when I finally recognized who the captain was. His snowy hair and white haori glowed softly in the moonlight, the patches of blood on his uniform looking ominously darker than the rest. Even from a distance it was easy to see that he had still been growing, and now he looked about twenty-two or so. I remembered Rangiku telling me that he was almost done going through his growth spurt when she had come a few months ago. She had also teased me by telling me that Toshiro asked about me constantly, not something I quite believed even though I wanted to.

"BANKAI!" His deep voice rang through the air and his power exploded around him in the form of wings made of ice. I kept my eyes trained on the fight above me and noticed that the two of them were talking and looking at me. I don't know what Toshiro's opponent, said but he moved towards me slightly until Toshiro stopped him by dealing him a blow to the shoulder. They continued to fight until finally Toshiro was able to defeat the Arrancar by slicing through his chest. I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding and closed my eyes in relief.

"What are you doing here?" Toshiro asked and I jumped, opening my eyes. He was right in front of me, and boy did he look angry, "Do you know how hard I had to work just to keep him away from you? And that Arrancar was a former Espada, granted he was the Tenth Espada, but you still would have been no match for him. Then you show up here and it's ten times more difficult because you have so much damn reiatsu it attracts these guys like ants to honey! Not only do you have enough reiatsu to make Hollows drool, but the fact of which that you're a young woman in such skimpy clothing paired with the fact of which that you don't exactly look eleven anymore makes you a prime target for Arrancar like him. Some days it's a wonder why I have any interest in such an infuriating woman!" Toshiro hadn't raised his voice above its normal levels, but that made it more intimidating. With each word he stepped closer to me until he towered over me and was glowering down at me. I was looking up at him, wide eyed, but I gulped as I processed what he'd said. My heart was skipping again, just like last time we'd been this close to each other.

"Toshiro," I said, "I think you should sit down on a bench so I can check your wounds. I've got all of the supplies I need," I pulled Toshiro, which was no easy task, over to the bench and pushed him down. I checked his head for any cuts and made my way to his blood-spotted uniform, "Toshiro, I need to check your chest and wrap the cuts." Still silent, Toshiro took off his haori and the top of his uniform so I could check the wounds. I kneeled in front of the bench on one knee to get a better look in the pale moonlight. Most of the cuts were shallow, and I was so absorbed in my work and with not making mistakes I was oblivious to the torture I was putting on the man who was older than her looked.

"I'm sorry for my outburst earlier. It's just that if anything happened to you under my watch, anyone's watch really, your brother wouldn't let them live to see tomorrow. While I was fighting him, I had to use all of my strength just to keep him at the park and not go rushing to your clinic when your reiatsu spiked. He was saying some… inappropriate things about you and I just, got angry I guess. I honestly don't know what I'd do if you got hurt because of anything that had to do with me," Toshiro said, his voice was soft.

"It's okay, nothing happened," I said as I tried to go back to cleaning a particularly bad cut on his chest. He grabbed my hands and I looked up at his face which was closed off again, but his eyes weren't. His eyes were darker than usual, a dark teal almost blue, and I gulped at the whirlwind of emotions in them.

"That's not the point," He said and leaned down so that our faces were only inches apart I felt his breath on my face and felt my cheeks burn slightly, "The point is, I don't want you to get hurt. Hearing that Arrancar talk about you like nothing but a toy to play with, it upset me." I hadn't interacted with Toshiro very often, only enough to allow for me to get a feeling for his personality, and this seemed uncharacteristic. I can't deal with this right now, it's one in the morning, I'm in my pajamas and I'm tired. I stood up and Toshiro looked up at me.

"Y-you should be fine. There's really no need to bandage the cuts but you should keep an eye on them," I said avoiding eye contact and pulling my hands from Toshiro's grasp, "And if you ever get so beat up from a measly Arrancar again," I smiled then mock lectured him, "I won't be so nice to come and check your wounds so fast." I turned and grabbed my bag of supplies, running off and throwing a "Goodnight!" over my shoulder. I had only made it a block when Toshiro appeared in front of me damn shunpo!

"What was that about?" He asked. I shrugged and tried to look as nonchalant as possible.

"I wanted to go to bed, is that a problem?" I asked and I saw a vein in Toshiro's forehead pop out slightly. Between his lieutenant and us two eldest Kurosaki kids, I swear he's going to burst a blood vessel.

"How much more clearly do I have to explain things to you?" Toshiro asked and he kept walking towards me. There were two parts of me fighting right now, the Kurosaki genes were saying to not back down, that's not how a Kurosaki acts, but the female part of me (who knew?) wanted to melt into a puddle due to the expression on Toshiro's face. His eyes were still dark as he advanced but I still stood tall, although to give relief to my shaky legs I leaned up against the wall.

"I don't know, draw the details like Rukia does for Ichigo?" I asked sarcastically. Toshiro kept coming until he towered over me again. Our chests were pressed together and I felt smothered by Toshiro's presence, but it was a good smothered.

"I like you," Toshiro said simply, "And you like me."

"That's quite an assumption you're making there Captain Shortstuff," I replied, even though I could tell my thudding heart was giving me away. Toshiro just leaned down until our noses were touching and once again I was blown away with how much sharper his features were than when we first met. I felt his breath fan over my face and I tried to keep my legs from giving out.

"It can't be an assumption if I already know," Toshiro said. The next thing I knew his lips were on mine and my eyes drifted shut. The moment our lips were pressed against one another I felt a heat sparked in my body. It spread until my entire being felt like it was on fire, and the cool press of Toshiro's lips was the only thing keeping me from melting. That was ironic seeing as how I'm fairly certain they were also the cause of it. I felt Toshiro rest his hands on my hips and I wound my arms around his neck. Whatever my reaction was to the kiss, my first kiss I might add, it was chaste and sweet, not meant to lead up to anything else. Finally we broke apart and I leaned my head on his chest as he pulled me into a hug.

"Karin Kurosaki, would it be wrong of me to say that I can't wait until you die?" Toshiro asked me after a few seconds.

"Yes!" I said and punched him softly on the shoulder. Although I wouldn't mind too much as long as I could come and visit Yuzu a lot.

A/N: This has been edited! I'd like to remind everyone that it is quite polite (it rhymes!) to review, and please enjoy the next chapter as well!

Charlotte-san

REVIEW PLEASE!

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