Here's my Secret Santa gift for djangelynn. I feel a little bad that between all the stuff I got caught up in over the holidays and a really bad writer's block this isn't my best work, but I hope you like it anyway!

This is supposed to exist in the same universe as one of my other stories Red, but I don't think it's absolutely necessary that you read it if you don't want to. All you need to know is that Toshiro go attacked and lost most of his soul reaper powers, and is now living in Ichigo's old room

"Toshiro! What's up?" Karin asked. The white-haired boy was walking in front of her down the school hallway so she couldn't see his face, but considering the fact that he hadn't even turned to greet her, she could tell something was wrong.

Toshiro stopped in front of a window. "I knew it." That was the only thing he said; apparently he still couldn't bother to notice her presence.

Karin looked out the window. He face lit up at the sight outside. "It's snowing!"

Toshiro sighed. "Yeah, it is." He sounded dismal.

Karin frowned. "I thought you liked snow. Wasn't your sword a –," She froze when she noticed the distant look on his face.

Toshiro turned away.

"What's up with you?" Karin asked.

"It doesn't matter."

Karin scowled. There he goes again, pushing me away and bottling up all of his problems. He's almost as bad as Ichi-nii!

She quickly ran up to jump in front of him. "Hey! Toshiro, talk to me! What's bothering you this time?"

Toshiro scowled. "Look, it's not something you can really help me with, okay?'

"Well, there's got to be something I can do!" Karin demanded. "Talk to me for once, Toshiro!"

Whatever the other was planning on saying or shouting in reply was interrupted by the school bell. The only had a few minutes to get to their classes before school began.

Toshiro started dragging Karin to the classroom. "Look, I'm not going to talk about this kind of stuff at school."

"Fine then. Tell me tonight." Karin suggested. "Dad's gone at a conference, and Yuzu is on a date with her boyfriend so we'll have the house to ourselves. And don't try telling me Urahara needs you tonight, if Jinta has the day off then so do you."

"Fine. Whatever you say." He grumbled.

"And for dinner there's some leftovers in the fridge, but if you don't like that there's always ramen… Karin, you are listening to me aren't you?" Yuzu was being motherly again.

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you." Karin didn't even bother looking up from the soccer magazine she was reading. "Leftovers in the fridge, when in doubt there's ramen. Toshiro and I can take care of ourselves."

"Oh, where is Toshiro anyway? He's been acting awfully distant lately."

That did get Karin's attention. "You noticed too? It's weird because he normally brightens up whenever it starts snowing, but not this time. Hopefully I'll be able to get him to open up tonight while we're home alone."

"That's right, you two will be here alone while I'm out with Jinta…" Yuzu realized. "Well, make sure to be responsible."

Karin was confused. "Responsible? What does being responsible have to do with being home alone?"

Yuzu smirked. "Ah, well, we're all getting older and you and Toshiro have been dancing around each other's feelings for quite a long time…"

"Huh?"

"In case you two do end up going that far, there's a box of condoms by –"

"OH GOD NO!" Karin couldn't believe that her innocent twin sister would even think of such a thing. "WE'RE NOT LIKE THAT!"

"Well, it's not like there would be any problems if you were." Yuzu reasoned.

Karin took a deep breath. "It's bad enough that you and dad are constantly finding every available opportunity to lock us in closets together, I don't need any of those kind of jokes. This is why I can't really talk to him whenever you're around."

"We're just trying to encourage the inevitable. Everybody except you knows it's going to happen someday."

Karin scoffed. "Whatever you say."

Yuzu sighed. "Alright, I'm heading out. Call me if you need anything."

Only a couple of minutes after the door closed to Yuzu did it open again for Toshiro.

"Was that Yuzu I saw leave?" He asked.

"Yeah." Karin replied.

"It looked like she was exceptionally happy about something when she saw me." Toshiro noted.

Karin shrugged, feigning ignorance of whatever was probably going on in her twin's mind. "She probably is just excited to see Jinta again."

"I guess so." Toshiro started looking in the fridge. "I take it we're supposed to have leftovers?"

Karin put down the soccer magazine and faced him. "Yes, but not until you tell me what has been bothering you."

Toshiro gave an exasperated sigh. "Will you please drop it? It's not a big deal."

"Even Yuzu has noticed that somethings going on with you. It clearly a big deal, so why won't you just talk about it."

"It's not like talking about it will make it better!" Toshiro stormed off in the direction of his room.

Karin followed him. "Well at least tell me what it is, if for no other reason than to get me to drop it!"

Toshiro had made it to his room and had already closed the door. Karin tested it, realized that he must have figured out some way to lock it.

Karin crossed her arms in a display of stubbornness, although nobody was around to see it. "I'm not going to leave until you talk to me."

"Why do you care anyway?" a muffled voice reached her from the other side of the door.

"Gee, I don't know, maybe because I care about you? And I've already made the mistake once of letting one person I care about brush me off, and I'm not letting myself feel that helpless again."

The door cracked open and Toshiro stuck his head out. "This isn't like back when Ichigo didn't tell you about becoming a Soul Reaper. It's more… personal."

"Well, that doesn't change the fact that you should be able to trust me with personal stuff. Like I said, I care about you."

Toshiro opened the door some more and looked at Karin more closely. "You care about me."

"Of course, you idiot. Why do you think I've put up with you all this time?"

Toshiro finally left the bedroom fully and closed the door. "Karin, I… I'm sorry. It's just that I've never been that good at letting others in. There aren't that many people who I've felt like I can trust enough to do that."

Karin nodded. "I noticed. But I thought we'd already decided that you can trust me?"

Toshiro took a deep breath. "I apologize. Would you just give me a couple of minutes to get my thoughts together? It's kind of difficult to explain."

"Okay, that seems fair. I'll be in the living room when you're ready, okay?" Karin left to sit on the couch and give Toshiro the time he needed.

Karin had gotten to know Toshiro very well since he had started living with her family. She knew that he usually needed a push to open up, but she could also tell when she needed to step back and let him move at his own pace. Toshiro's trust was something was proud to have, and knew better than to abuse it.

A few minutes later Toshiro came out and sat down on the other side of the couch from Karin. "Did you know that Hyorinmaru used to talk to me in my dreams?"

Karin looked at him, unsure about where he was going with this.

"Even before I started training, I was able to form a deep connection with my zanpakuto. Do you have any idea how rare that is? Most Soul Reapers don't start talking with their swords until close to the end of their time at the academy, and few are able to achieve Shikai before they graduate. I know that the biggest reason why I was able to achieve what I did in such a short time was primarily because of my relationship with Hyorinmaru."

Karin noticed that that tears were beginning to form in Toshiro's eyes.

"He- He was so very important to me for so long, and we talked all the time. I needed to, in order to fight on the level of a Captain. But, ever since I lost my powers and started staying here, I've gotten out of practice. I- I can't even remember the last time I talked to him. But when I saw the snow, I thought about him, and especially how I've been neglecting him. I want to talk to him again, but…"

Karin scooted over to sit next to Toshiro and grab his hand "I'll admit that I don't know Hyorinmaru as well as you do, but I think that even if he's a little mad that you didn't talk for so long, he'll understand. Besides, you don't know until you try. I think you should go and talk to him right now. I'll heat up the leftovers while you're talking, how does that sound?"

Toshiro looked away. "I guess that could work. I'm still now sure he'll forgive me so easily."

Karin smirked. "Then, how about you take a page from my book and badge him until he eventually gives in?"

Toshiro gave her a hard look.

Karin made a shooing motion with her hands. "Go on. Inner world time. Go make up with Hyorinmaru."

Toshiro sighed and closed his eyes.

Karin stayed on the couch for a few minutes to make sure that Toshiro was actually meditating. When she was satisfied, she stood up, stretched, and checked the contents of the fridge. The leftovers were there just like Yuzu said, and it was easy enough to heat it up.

When Karin had finished preparing the two plates, she brought them over the couch. She notices that Toshiro was crying, but his face showed more peace than she had seen on him in a very long time.

When Karin sat down next to him, Toshiro opened his eyes.

"So? Did you two make up?" Karin asked.

"Yes."

Toshiro leaned over and pecked her on the cheek.

Karin almost dropped her chopsticks.

"Um, uh, Toshiro? What was that for?"

"Hyorinmaru told me to." Toshiro stated matter-of-factly.

Karin swallowed, still trying to process it. "Well, um, tell Hyorinmaru thank you. I guess."

Toshiro blushed. "Well, he actually told me that I should do some other things, but we decided that was a good start."

Karin raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What other things did he want you to do?"

Toshiro looked away. "Um, when did you say Yuzu was planning on getting back?"

"Probably not until really late. Why do you ask?"

"No real reason. Though, maybe I could do some of the other things Hyorinmaru suggested."

"Oh, what other things?"

Toshiro leaned in again and kissed her on the mouth.

This time, Karin really did drop the chopsticks.

The rest of that evening I leave up to the reader's interpretation. Although I enjoy reading smut, i'm not sure I'm ready to start writing it yet.

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