Haha it looks like I just can't keep away from the pairing HitsuKarin. I only just finished Adjusting to You! (A sequel is now in the planning stages by the way.) But anyway, a couple of things. This is set a few years after the Winter War. It's also kinda AU as Ichigo doesn't have his powers back in this. I hope you enjoy it! ^.^

Tōshirō sighed heavily as he saw a few rays of light spread through the horizon. He pulled out his phone and checked the time. Twenty three minutes past four. Tōshirō figured it was around that time. There was no point sleeping now. Exterminating hollows ended up keeping him awake all night. Tōshirō sighed again as he sat down on the roof he was previously standing on. There may have been no point in sleeping but he could certainly rest for a few hours.

Tōshirō didn't know how much time had passed when he felt reiatsu spike to the west of him. The sort of spike it was wasn't unusual in Seireitei. There was no danger or urgency to it. Barely any power to it really. It was sort of spike that every shinigami would do in their sleep at least once or twice. It was similar to when you moved in your sleep, not actually controlling it. Not much strength goes into moving a limb, for example, while you're asleep compared to what you could do when you're awake. The reiatsu itself didn't cause an issue. It wasn't uncommon. In Seireitei.

But this was the Living World. That being said it did feel familiar. It had been a while since shinigami had made contact with any living souls. Years in fact. There were shinigami to protect them from hollows, but there had been no need to contact anyone in the Living World. But there were a few people dotted here or there that could've caused that reiatsu spike. In fact thinking about it, given the direction the spike came from Tōshirō assumed it was Ichigo spiking his reiatsu in his sleep. After all he never could control it very well. However Tōshirō stood up and stretched him muscles a bit, wanting to check it definitely was Ichigo, just in case.

As Tōshirō got closer to the area where the reiatsu had spiked he looked around, realising that it looked familiar. Unsurprisingly the search for the person responsible for the reiatsu spike led him to the Kurosaki household. He neatly leapt over to Ichigo's window expecting to see him asleep in his bed. Tōshirō narrowed his eyes slightly when he saw the empty bed. It wasn't like Ichigo had gotten up in the night or anything like that, the bed was made.

Tōshirō jumped into the room and looked around. After a few moments he realised how bare it was. The posters that used to adorn the walls were gone. There weren't any photographs any where unlike before. Although the room was fairly clear of dust it was obvious that the room hadn't been used for some time. Tōshirō remembered that Ichigo had lost his shinigami powers after the Winter War, a few years ago now. He could've slapped himself. Ichigo was probably an adult now. He had probably moved out of this house. Besides he didn't even have reiatsu any more, let alone be able to make it flare up. So why on earth did it feel so familiar? And how did it come from this house?

Tōshirō made his way silently out of Ichigo's old bedroom and into the hallway. A framed photograph hanging up on the wall caught his eye. It featured Ichigo, who was in the middle of the photograph, and two small girls. He had his arm around one with large eyes and sandy hair, and his hand on the shoulder of a slightly taller girl with black hair that barely reached her shoulders. Tōshirō took a deep breath as memories came flooding back. The girl in the photograph, Ichigo's little sister, must've been the one who spiked their reiatsu. This was the young girl he played football with. It all explained how it felt so familiar.

He didn't know how he forgot her really. He supposed with how hectic life had been for the past few years that the memories of the young girl just slid to the back of his mind. Of course he doubted that she remembered him either. That was quite some time ago now. There was no way she was a child any more. Tōshirō turned his head to look at the bedroom door that he was sure she was behind. He wondered what she looked like now. How different she was. To be honest, it had always fascinated him that humans could grow and develop so quickly, ever since his first mission to the Living World.

Not being able to resist his own curiosity, Tōshirō opened the bedroom door and closed it again as quietly as he could before turning round to see two teenage girls sleeping soundly. He passed the first bed and walked over to the bed that was pushed against the far wall. The amount of differences to the young girl he remembered was amazing. For starters the term young woman suited her much more than the term young girl. He knew that humans grew up quite quickly, but she seemed to have grown up especially quick. She certainly looked more mature than the other girl in the room.

Her face was a lot more slender than it was, and her eyes looked noticeably smaller than he remembered, more defined too. Her black hair used to just about reach her shoulders, but now it looked like it would easily reach her mid back. She also had her ears pierced, which he knew she didn't have before. Little football earrings. Tōshirō didn't bother holding back a smile. He should've known. It was funny really. He remembered thinking that she resembled her father a lot, but these days she looked more similar to her mother.

She was beautiful. Both of the teenage girls were. Then again so was their mother, amazingly so in fact. It shouldn't be a surprise that the two were beautiful. But the other girl didn't quite capture his attention like the girl in front of him. He wished he could remember her name. He really couldn't quite believe that he had forgotten about her. How could he? She was so different. Unique compared to the rest of the people he encountered in day to day life.

He turned his attention to the room. There was a wardrobe not too far from the foot of girl's bed, with a school uniform hanging off of it, presumably to stop it from getting creased. Tōshirō raised an eyebrow, recognising the uniform. So they were old enough to go to Karakura High School. That made them, what? Fifteen at the youngest? He couldn't remember the exact age students started in that school. Besides he didn't know what year they were in either. They could've been even older than that. He made his way over to the large desk that had been placed near the wardrobe. It was a little cluttered, but there was some form of organisation present. He spotted some school books on the left side of the desk. He read the front of one of them before looking over to the girl again. Karin. Karin Kurosaki. Yes, that did sound familiar. Tōshirō felt like it fitted her as well.

Noticing the sun getting significantly higher in the sky, Tōshirō decided to leave the house, knowing that the two girls would have to get up soon to go to school, and he didn't particularly feel like getting found lurking in their bedroom. Before he jumped out of the window, he carefully placed something on one of Karin's bedposts, near her head.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Karin woke up to the sound of Yuzu's alarm going off. She turned her head a little groggily to see her twin get up and out of bed, ready to start the day. Yuzu usually got up earlier than Karin, needing to make breakfast as well as getting ready for school, and Karin was usually able to sleep through Yuzu's alarm, after all it wasn't very loud. She mustn't have been in a very deep sleep, she supposed. Karin sighed before leaning over to turn her own alarm off before it set off, there didn't seem much point in keeping it on. Her eyes widened slightly as she caught sight of something on her bedpost.

She wasn't sure what it was at first but when she rubbed her eyes and woke up a bit more her vision got more focused. It was a sculpture. Not a very big one, it was small enough to fit in her palm, but it was intricate nonetheless. Karin cocked her head to the side slightly in thought. Was it made out of glass? It looked like ice. Frosted glass maybe? She reached out a hand to take it off the bedpost. It was a football (with a flat base so it wouldn't roll over and smash) with a dragon sleeping on it. Karin grinned. It wasn't made out of glass. Glass didn't feel that cold. It was certainly made out of ice. She had felt this kind of ice before. When a certain white-haired shinigami had protected her from hollows.

Karin kept smiling to herself as she looked at the little ice sculpture more. A football with a dragon sleeping on it. It was so fitting for the time they had spent together. She got up and carefully put it on her side of the desk. She was a little surprised. She didn't know he had the ability to keep his ice from melting. Even if he had only placed it there half an hour ago the majority of it would've melted in the summer heat. Karin sat back down on her bed as she realised.

He was in her room. He had made this and given it to her. He had placed it on her bedpost so she would notice it fairly quickly after she woke up. He remembered her. After all this time. Karin wondered if she would ever see him again. She kinda hoped she did, and soon at that. I mean after all, he was clearly in the Living World, or else he wouldn't have been able to give this to her. And it was in the early hours of the morning too, because she was still awake around midnight, struggling to sleep because of the heat.

Karin glanced at the clock and realised that she should really start getting ready for school. She started pulling off her pyjamas and getting changed into her school uniform, all the while still thinking about Tōshirō. She hoped she would run into him. It seemed unlikely that he would've gone back to Soul Society after giving her the gift in the early hours of the morning. It seemed only logical that he was still in the Living World. Karin smiled to herself as she finished buttoning up her school blouse. She really did hope that she ran into him. Luckily for her, she happened to know where he would most likely be.

So yeah, this is what happens when I get bored at one in the morning and I can't sleep. Still, I actually quite like the way it turned out so I figured I would publish it. I haven't done many one-shots before so it would be great if I could get some feedback on it. I do really appreciate reviews and favourites and whatnot, it keeps me writing! I hope you enjoyed reading the story as much as I enjoyed writing it. ^.^