I've always wondered why authors waste the first few lines thanking viewers, but now i get it. It's awesome that people are actually reading this. So anyway, a small shout-out to one 'Ziya Hitsugaya': "Thanks for the idea, and I'm kinda thinking along those lines. Oh, and your feedback was actually motivating, so you're awesome for that. :]'

Then there's 'Telekinetic Lightning Ninja': "You've got a scary pen name, dude. :] And her floundering over Aizen was a big put-off, but I'm not sure I'd have liked her character even if she was level-headed. Thanks for the compliment, and yeah, it was a great ep."

You guys rock. :]

In other news, my last chapter wasn't flamed because there was nothing I could do wrong, just follow the episode. Now it gets a bit harder, because I have to pull a plotline outta my hat. Wish me luck!

Without further ado, the first chapter: Following the tradition of previous T x K fics, she will indeed learn more about Soul Society thanks to our little Ice Boy. Oh, and the lines in between that might lead up to another chapter. :p

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Chapter 1.5, which rounds up to 2.

"I AM NOT A LITTLE KID!!!!"

His scream echoed back at him, just a bit comical, even to his own ears.

"Oy, taicho," Rangiku said suddenly. "Why don't you run along and play with Karin-chan for a bit, hm? I'll go take care of the patrol."

Hitsugaya raised his eyebrow at her. "Don't treat me like a child," he muttered finally, relenting.

"Excellent, I'll be going now!" And she left. Hitsugaya wondered briefly where she had abandoned her gigai. Then he remembered his own body and turned in his sandals to reunite with it.

"So, are you going to disappear mysteriously too?" Karin asked, staring after Rangiku.

He rolled his joints a bit, testing the artificial body. "I'll escort you home, I suppose."

"I still have some time to kill before curfew..... Hey! Do you wanna get some ice cream?"

Hitsugaya blinked. "Ice cream?"

"Yeah. It's delicious!"

Shrugging his assent, the captain followed Karin away from the battered playing field.("A lot of good it did us winning the field," he heard her mutter.)

"So," she asked as they walked, "What's been going on recently that's been so bad that Ichi-nii had to run off?"

Hitsugaya studied her before answering, deciding how much he should tell her. "A more advanced Hollow, called Arrancar, have been attacking this place."

"Arrancar?"

"They're humanoid hollow." And now the captain remembered the problem the girl's reiatsu had presented. "If you ever come across one, don't try to kill it. Just run for it." Like that'll help if they're aiming for her, he thought. Damn, he needed some way to protect this girl. I'll figure it out later.

"So these Arrancar things are a new development? Why are they such a problem now?"

"Recently they've acquired an item that boosts their power."
"Oh, and how'd that happen?"

Hitsugaya glanced at her. She was watching the scenery as they walked, trying to act as if she were making casual conversation. Her stance was at odds with the keen way she held on to his every word. "Three captains from Soul Society betrayed the Gotei 13 and-" Karin's head snapped back to face him.

"Whoah, whoah, whoah! What's Soul Society? And the Gotei 13? And how does this captain thing work? And-" she babbled, dropping all pretenses of not caring.

"Slow down, Kurosaki," he snapped. Then he relaxed. "You're Ichigo's sibling, I thought. How do you not know about Soul Society?"

At this, Karin scowled. "Well, shit, that baka doesn't tell me anything." The words were light-hearted enough, but she said them bitterly.

Hitsugaya sighed. "I guess that makes sense. It's illegal for normal humans to know about us. He was probably trying to protect you."

"Yeah," she agreed, but not really. "Probably."

Trying to distract her, he began, "Well, Soul Society is the Realm of Spirits." She glanced at him again, interested. "We shinigami live there, along with the exorcised souls."

"You live there? As in you're dead?"

"......... That was a contradiction, you realize."

Karin glowered at him, unamused. "Just answer the question, smart-ass."

Troublesome. "Yes, we are dead, in a manner."

"So my brother......?" She just kept dwelling on him.

"Kurosaki Ichigo is...... a special case," the captain answered, choosing his words carefully.

"How so?"

"Well, he obtained his powers illegally, for one. Also, he's still technically human. Plus there's that whole Hollow power that he's got," the last part was mumbled to himself.

"Nani? How'd all that happen?"

"Well, it all started with Kuchiki Rukia.............."

* * *

"So a zanpakuto is like a weapon that can transform?" Karin asked him around her ice cream. So far, the Soul Reaper's methods for combat fascinated her the most.

"Not exactly. They're a bit more complicated than that," Hitsugaya answered vaguely, cleaning off his own cone. Peppermint. He had initially been satisfied with vanilla, but the Kurosaki girl had refused to pay for such a 'mundane waste of desert'.

Letting the subject drop, Karin shivered. They were walking home, or at least Karin was. Hitsugaya was just there to ensure her safety. And provide information, apparently. Still, with the sun already set, it was cold out. The ice cream, while extremely tasty, only encouraged the goosebumps that had formed on Karin's arms and legs. The girl hadn't brought a jacket. Noticing, Hitsugaya rolled his eyes. Though he had no jacket himself, he was fine; even in his gigai, he was indifferent to the cold. The captain did feel a little guilty that he didn't have any article of clothing to offer her.

Still licking her Strawberry Bonanza cone halfheartedly, she trailed beside him. Hitsugaya kept track of her, focusing on her reiatsu. A problem kept coming to back to him. The girl's reiatsu was at odds with her vulnerability. He had to rectify one of these odd ends if he expected her survive the year. Without thinking further than this, he spoke up.

"Hey, kid!" She focused her attention on the snowy-haired shinigami. "I told you about reiatsu, right?" She nodded. "Well then, you'll recall that Hollow are attracted to large amounts of spiritual pressure, like your brother's or a Soul Reaper's."

Karin nodded, hearing what he was saying, but not entirely grasping his point.

"What I'm getting at is this: you have high spiritual pressure, yeah? But, really, you're not strong enough to take advantage of it."

"So?"

"So you're defenseless, a liability. Weak."

"Hey!" she protested, punching him on the arm.

Weak may be a loose term, Hitsugaya winced inwardly. What kind of child is taught to attack people? His face, however, remained impassive as ice.

"I may not be as freakishly talented as you are, but I can hold my own against your average Hollow," she continued, cracking her knuckles. The butterfly that thinks itself a hawk.

"However, against the unaverage Hollow, you're quite incapable." Her face fell, but she allowed the statement. "My point is that you need a way to ward off Hollow."

"How can I do that?" she asked, at loss.

"Well, the obvious approach is to train and become stronger. Then you might have a chance."

"Sounds good to me-"

"However," he interrupted, "you have no remarkable abilities, so I suggest the other option.'
"Other option?" Karin prompted, ignoring the jibe.

Hitsugaya stared at her, his face a deadpan. He spoke slowly, mocking her without abash. "Your spiritual pressure attracts Hollow. Hollow are bad. How do you solve this?"

Omitting the insult, Karin considered what he said as a riddle. Logically, she could only come up with one answer. "Turn off my spiritual pressure?"

Hitsugaya shrugged. "Don't turn it off; that would kill you. But same basic concept. You need to learn to smother your reiatsu, hide it from your enemies."

Karin seemed dissatisfied. "Isn't that cowardly?"

"You're a kid. It's a reasonable strategy."

"That's no excuse; you still get to duke it out with the monsters and you're smaller than me!" she argued.

Vigorously, Hitsugaya rubbed at his temples. It did little to ease the frustration the girl drew from him. Letting out an angry puff into the night air, he decided on a compromise:

"I'll make you a deal. If you learn how to mask your reiatsu, I'll teach you some basic fighting maneuvers so you can kill off stronger Hollow. Sound good?"

Pressing one delicate finger to her chin, Karin considered. Deeming it an acceptable trade-off, she agreed. "Good enough, at least for now."

Hitsugaya's eyebrow twitched. This brat.

They resumed the walk home. After a moment though, the girl opened her mouth. Apparently she couldn't stand silence. Ugh.

"Why didn't Ichi-nii have these problems when he was younger?" Karin muttered, mostly to herself. Hitsugaya took it upon himself to answer anyway.

"I suppose that's because his spiritual pressure never caught the Hollow's attention." Karin looked up, expression quizzical. "Don't misunderstand, his reiatsu is very powerful, but back when he was still a human it was nothing near as extraordinary. Interaction with spirits affected his reiatsu eventually, to the point where the Hollow could sense him," Hitsugaya distantly did he remember the details. "Then he became a shinigami, and that tends to increase the flow."

"So I have a stronger spiritual pressure than Ichi-nii used to?"

"Correct." That seemed to amuse her.

"Well, catch you later!" Hitsugaya, jumped, unaware they had arrived at the clinic. Karin took one, two, three uncertain steps toward her home before whipping around to speak. "I will see you tomorrow, right?"

Hitsugaya exhaled heavily. "I guess. I'll stop by some time and begin your training."

Karin grinned. "Sounds good to me." She spun around and left without another word. Hitsugaya stared after her, then redirected his gaze to the clinic itself. After a moment, he left, with one last glance at the house over his shoulder.

* * *

Arriving at Inoue's, Hitsugaya stepped in the small apartment. With a glance around the room he was relieved to find Rangiku was nowhere in sight. Neither was their orange-haired host. The captain figured he could spare a minute for food before he went to rest on the roof. He made his way to the refrigerator and opened the door. Then, his captain announced her appearance and Hitsugaya felt her................ well, she hugged him from behind with a squeal.

"Taicho, you're back!" Hitsugaya shoved the crazy woman off his back.

"Obviously."
"Hey, what took you so long getting back? Did you have a date with Ichigo's sister?"

He swore he could feel a vein throbbing on his forehead. "Will you just drop that already?!"

"Yeesh, touchy." But she reached in around him and snagged an onigiri, handing it to him. "Night, taicho!"

Her boss only nodded in response, but that was just like him, so everything was normal. Rangiku yawned hugely as she made her way to the bedroom. Hitsugaya paced around the kitchen, chewing the riceball.

This ought to be challenging. I've taught soldiers how to focus their reiatsu, but I've never had to explain the technique for masking it. Most people can do so naturally. Training her might be odd.

He swallowed the last of his dinner along with the last of his thoughts. Deciding it was time to turn in for the night, the captain walked over to the sofa in the living room and laid down. Then he released his soul from the gigai. Too tired to bother with shunpo, he made his way to the window sluggishly. Then he opened it, and the captain climbed the walls of the apartment until he was sitting on the roof. Without a glance at the magnificent sky above, the shinigami leaned forward on his stomach and searched the buildings below him. Satisfied that he could pinpoint the Kurosaki clinic from his view point, Hitsugaya set his Soul Pager on the ground beside his ear. Then he drifted off to a light sleep.

* * *

Kurosaki Karin awoke on a bright, sunlit Saturday afternoon. Glancing at the pink bed across the room, Karin surmised that her fraternal twin was already up and about. Karin threw off her own mint green blankets, but stayed in bed a moment longer, stretching. Then she stood up on the mattress and hopped off her bed, wincing a little as the impact jostled her knee. Growling, but shrugging it off all the same, Karin prepared herself for the day. She dressed in a black t-shirt and sweatpants so that she could run without trouble. Finishing up her routine, she jogged down the stairs.

As she had expected, Karin was met with the scent of food. Yuzu was baking breakfast, as she always did on weekends.

"Good morning, Karin-chan," her sister greeted from the oven, barely glancing up from the omelets she was frying.

"Yo," Karin answered. She sniffed as she entered the kitchen. "Rice and omelets? Sweet!" She grabbed a dish and prepared her meal. "But you know, you really need to get a hobby. Cooking all day for us must get boring, not that I'm complaining." Karin patted her sister on her head, mussing up her hair.

"GOOD MORNING, MY TWO BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS!" Karin rolled her eyes as her father made his flamboyant appearance.

"What do you want, old man?" Karin grunted, grabbing a pair of chopsticks.

"Only to wish you well on this wonderful morning," her father sang.

"Eh?" Karin squinted out the window. "What's so great about it?"

As her dad fumbled for an answer, Karin spotted a shock of white hair outside the window. Toshiro....? Oh man! I do NOT wanna have to explain him to my family. With a sigh that was not uncharacteristic, Karin sat up and abandoned her breakfast. "You're right, it's better out there than being stuck inside all day. Later." And she slammed the door shut behind her.

"What's up with her?" Yuzu wondered aloud. "She seems off today."

"It's the springtime of youth!!!!!" Karin's twin promptly cut her parent off by stuffing an omelet in his mouth.

Outside, Karin glanced around. "I know you're here," Karin muttered, eyes glancing about. When he didn't appear, she sighed before shrugging her arms and saying theatrically, "Wow, I was starting to think he was cool, but I guess he's just a child after all."

"You're one to talk, brat," a voice muttered darkly from her roof. And he comes for the bait, Karin thought dully. Then the kid leaped down from his post atop her house. They stared at each other, Karin amused while Toshiro seemed liable to hit something. Then, with a quick shake of his head, Toshiro whispered, "Come on." and Karin was left to follow the strange boy away from her house.

Jogging up to his side, Karin reminded herself of a puppy. She shuddered at her own analogy.

[I have no idea why this line is here.]

"What is it with you? Do you never talk unless you have to?" she chided.

"Aren't you going to ask where we're going?" he asked, unaffected.

Karin shrugged. "I figured you were getting to that."

"Remember our conversation about training?"

"Jeez, I remember. You're sorta annoying sometimes, ya know that?"

"Likewise, Kurosaki."

She frowned. "Karin."

"Whatever." She continued to glare at him. He rolled his eyes. "Whatever, Karin."

"Ah, you learn fast, Toshiro."

"Let's hope the same can be said about you," he replied, turning on the sidewalk and heading towards a small park.

"Ah, come on now. I know a park's fun and all, if you're a little kid, I guess, but I really wanna start training!" He didn't seem to grasp that she was joking. Instead, he threw a pebble at her. She dodged it neatly. "Besides, no one comes to this place anyway. The popular one's down the street, but I guess you knew that."

"First rule: shut up," he ordered, unsmiling. Karin refrained from rolling her eyes. "Moving on." He paced around the swing set. She trailed after him before giving up and settling in one the swings. He still hadn't spoken, so she began to rock back and forth using her toes. A few minutes into the silence, however, she grew restless.

"Toshiro," she began.

"Ah," he held up one finger, effectively silencing her. Karin grimaced, but her jaw remained locked. She was still bored however, so she pushed herself higher on the swing. After a bit, she found her rhythm. When she finally tired herself out, she sat limply on the swing, just staring up at the clouds. It was peaceful, in a way.

"That's better," her companion finally spoke. Karin blinked. "That was a meditation exercise. You're reiatsu has been quiet for a few minutes now."

"How's that supposed to help? I have to run and find a swing every time I'd like to avoid a Hollow?"

"Give me a chance to explain, idiot!" he rebuked sharply. Karin wasn't intimidated in the least, but she paid attention. Because she was a respectful person. Yeah..... "First off, you need to be able to calm down your spiritual pressure. This is somewhat different from simply relaxing your mood, but it's a similar concept. Relax your reiatsu, but stay alert while doing so."

"So I just gotta mellow out my inner chi?" Karin joked weakly. At Toshiro's blank stare she shook her head and said, "Never mind. It sounds kinda hard to explain though. I guess I'll just work on smothering my awareness. Maybe something will turn up."

"Or we could try a different take. Imagine your spiritual pressure as a white ball amidst darkness. Try in your mind to shrink the white until only the black remains."

"Um, okay."

She attempted to do so. Black.... Black.... Black....... And then the white ball shrinks...... It was an odd sensation, trying to picture something so abstract as her spiritual energy as a white ball. She made the ball glow for her own amusement, and she felt as if that improved her progress a bit. It was the strangest lesson she ever sat through.

They worked quietly a few hours into the afternoon. Karin felt as if she were getting nowhere . She compared the exercise to blowing a bubble; each time she thought she had blown a huge one it would pop just before it left the wand. The entire practice was quite frustrating.

Then, out of nowhere, Toshiro poked her on her forehead, startling her out of her trance.

"Oy, kiddo, I'm calling it quits for now."

Karin furrowed her eyebrows. "I'm the one who's training; why are you suddenly tired?" Something in her words caused Toshiro's ears to tinge red. Karin marveled at the oddness of his character. "Why do you need to take a break so suddenly?"

"Why's it matter why I need the rest? I just do, alright?"

"Easy, boy! Why are you so defensive?"

Toshiro directed his gaze away from her probing eyes. "Children who sleep well grow well," he mumbled. He glanced up then, resigned to whatever mocking comment she was sure to fling at him. So he was taken aback by her sorrowful expression and the far-away look in her eyes.

"Yeah," she murmured in agreement. Then she forced a lopsided smile at the unsuspecting boy. "I remember my mother used to say the same thing. Dad says it to us now."

Toshiro paused for a beat in the conversation. Then: "Your mother?" Toshiro's befuddled thoughts were interrupted as his Soul Pager's alarm cut through the air. Flipping open the phone, he quickly assessed the situation: "Hollow, at the other park."

The two locked eyes briefly before Karin sprinted off, calling over her shoulder, "This way! I know a shortcut!" They journeyed around a maze of alleys before finally arriving at a street corner. Between them and the park was a steady stream of traffic. But they could already hear the Hollow's unsettling shrieks.

"Take care of my gigai," was all Karin heard before Toshiro removed his soul from his body and began attacking the demon. The Hollow was nothing impressive, they usually weren't. It had a nondescript mask covering its fleshy, colorless body. It propped itself up on its two front fists, charging at the 10th division captain in likeliness of a gorilla. This is odd, Karin thought to herself as she watched the battle. I've seen Hollow much stronger than this guy, yet his aura is a bit more... potent. Like there's another one nearby. But a glance around revealed no evil spirits in the shadows. And the pressure is close enough it has to be in this general area. She shrugged it off for the moment. Finally finding an opening in the line of cars, Karin nudged Toshiro's body to follow her across the street. "I feel like I need to hold your hand, 'Shiro," she said lazily, even as she eyed the fight. The gigai did not answer, instead staring unseeingly before him with a somewhat apathetic gaze. "This gigai might be even more boring than the ice boy himself."

The fight was progressing somewhat, with Toshiro eventually finding a moment to strike between all of the failed offensives the Hollow was sending him. As Toshiro's blade cut through the Hollow's arm, Karin noticed his eyes widen, then follow the broken limb strangely. Karin too directed her gaze to the amputated appendage. The arm still held a trace of reiatsu about it, though it was not regenerating, as she expected. What's the source of the spiritual pressure then? Behind her, Toshiro finally succeeded in cutting up the Hollow. The spirit was dissipating when Karin noticed the arm twitch and felt the surge in reiatsu. Eyes widening with realization, she backed away, though she knew she wouldn't be able to escape in time. There was another, smaller Hollow inside the other one's s body! She traced the things spiritual pressure, and it seemed to be burrowing underground, now surging up to emerge. Right underneath where Karin stood. She tried in vain to back away in time, but at her slow human pace she couldn't accomplish anything. Throwing out her hands before her face at the last second, she scrunched up her eyes and waited for the blow.

When it didn't come, she was shocked to feel herself splattered with blood.

"Damn," Toshiro hacked. "I'm such an idiot to have missed that!" He turned to follow the Hollow that had attacked him. Its form was strange, and it was very hard to see. It had a colorless, scorpion-like body with a tangle of grey hair amidst a white and purple skull. The creature darted through the air at an appalling speed before turning around sharply to aim another strike at the shinigami. Toshiro jumped up to meet it, slicing his sword through the Hollow in mid-attack. He then fell gracelessly to the ground, landing on one knee. Above him, the Hollow shimmered away into nothing. Toshiro spat out a mouthful of blood before heaving himself to his feet and walking over to Karin.

"Are you... okay?" Karin managed, badly shaken by his wound. The Hollow had ripped though his stomach, and the bloodied fabric blended in with the black. She could not assess how badly hurt he was, but she could guess. Her shirt was flecked in his blood. I wonder if Soul Reaper's blood will be visible to people without spiritual awareness, Karin wondered wildly.

"Ugh, I've been better," he responded faintly, collapsing by his gigai. Realizing she had been gripping the artificial body's hand, she relinquished it hastily. "Just let me rest for a moment, then we can head back to Inoue's apartment and Matsumoto can heal me," he continued, already fighting for air. Karin nodded unsteadily. Suddenly her legs felt unsteady too, so she dropped to the ground beside the Soul Reaper.

She eventually said, "I sensed a second reiatsu. I should've said something."

Toshiro immediately waved her off. "You're inexperienced; you didn't get what was going on. It was a one-time error on my part, and it won't happen again. I learn from my mistakes." Though the words were spoken faintly, they left no room for argument.

Karin allowed him his silence for a few more moments before hauling herself upright. She offered Toshiro a hand to help him up, as he had yesterday after the Menos. She marveled at the different outcomes of the two events, despite the opponents obvious differences in strength. Toshiro refused the hand, opting to struggle to his feet by himself. Karin let her arm drop, feeling a little lame. She watched as he stepped back into his gigai, letting out a sigh as he did so.

"Gigai allow Soul Reaper to recover their powers," he explained, stretching his arms above his head.

She nodded dizzily, not bothering to question him further as she might have at any other time. They began walking. Almost instantaneously, Toshiro wobbled, almost falling out into the street. Despite the gigai's aide, the soul was still injured. Unceremoniously, Karin slung the boy's arm over her shoulder, helping with the weight. When Toshiro resisted she punched him in his side without hesitation. He faltered, gasping for air at the blow, during which Karin said sharply, "I just watched a Hollow tear a hole in your gut, so suck it up and let me feel useful!" Toshiro hesitated, but allowed the girl to support his body, clutching his side throughout the whole ordeal.

The pair trekked their way through town, studiously ignoring the probing gazes of Karakura's nosier residents. And Karin allowed him many uninterrupted minutes of silence. It was actually unnerving, rather than relaxing.

Eventually, they arrived at the door before Orihime's apartment. Karin recalled her brother's classmate with ease, as she was always hanging around Tatsuki. Karin liked Tatsuki. She was sorta her idol, and anybody who was close to that girl couldn't be that idiotic. Much like her brother.

She released Toshiro finally, and he stumbled forward before regaining his balance with the doorknob. Regaining his composure, he opened the door for her.

* * *

"Really, taicho, you need to learn to stay out of trouble," Matsumoto scolded as she worked over her division leader. Both were in their shinigami forms, Toshiro sprawled out on the floor with his kimono top removed. Matsumoto hovered above him, hands aglow with what they called 'kido'. Karin had seen a bunch of nasty things throughout her life at the clinic, but she was nearly overcome with nausea as she inspected Toshiro's injury. There was a gaping hole in his abdomen. Although it was small, the Hollow had ran him through. Needless to say, there was a lot of blood.

So, deciding she wasn't a masochist, Karin sat back on the sofa at the other end of the room. Matsumoto worked quickly with the kido, explaining that it was harder for a Soul Reaper to heal himself. "Good thing the gigai helped clean this up, or else we'd have a real mess on our hands," Rangiku said, wiping off sweat of her brow. The assistant captain grinned cheekily at Karin. "Nice of you to drop by again, darling." She winked.

Karin jumped at being addressed so suddenly. "Um, yeah." was her verbose response.

"Matsumoto," Toshiro said slowly, in warning. Karin truly felt she was missing out on something.

"Relax, captain! In fact, that's precisely what I'm prescribing you, a day of bed rest. No soul-reaping for you today. I guess I'll cover again. I closed up your wound, but you're gonna have to hop back into your gigai so that it'll heal properly." Matsumoto added shooing motions with her hand, supplying comedic affect with her diagnosing.

"Hai," Toshiro grunted in response, already sliding down into the body. He deftly caught the pill as the artificial soul was cast out. Then the captain gathered himself to his feet and made his way to the bedroom, feet dragging across the carpet. Both Matsumoto and herself stared after the boy before Matsumoto chuckled. "Well, do you mind looking after him while I go on patrol?" Something about the fire in her eye scared Karin out of wondering Matsumoto's intention.

"Sure," she answered.

"Excellent!" Matsumoto really was to happy with Karin's answer. She's scheming something, I just know it, Karin thought to herself. "Buh-bye!" And Karin was left alone in the apartment. Well, not entirely alone. Yawning, Karin trailed down the hall where Toshiro had exited earlier. She found the white-haired kid snoring lazily on the wide futon in Orihime's room.

He's already asleep? Karin thought absentmindedly. If she were half as girly and sentimental as Yuzu she might have been touched by the innocence adorned on the young captain's face. However, she was more concerned with catching some shut-eye, so she thought nothing of it. "Ay, scootch over, will ya?" She poked the boy with her foot. Drowsily, Toshiro opened one eye, staring blearily up at her.

"The hell, Kurosaki?" he mumbled, wiping his eyes. She settled down on the bed beside him. Karin was reminded of her days with Yuzu when the two used to share beds. The same sense of comfort arose from this situation, despite the lack of familiarity with the boy and bedroom.

"Go to sleep, short-stuff," she yawned, rolling so that her back faced him. "You wanna grow taller, don't cha?" Not awake enough to be appropriately offended, Toshiro yawned in retort. He too turned his back to the girl and settled down into the covers.

And really, they were the same height anyways.

They closed their eyes and fell asleep.

Lol, they actually are the same height. 4"4, I believe. Which totally means they belong together. 0v0

Toshiro's a few pounds lighter though. -_-

Anyways, there were about 3 or 4 passages in this chapter that alluded to other animes. The Hollow, for instance, were stolen from an episode of InuYasha. The one with Jiromaru & Kageromaru? Also, that whole 'springtime of youth' thing? That was a comparison between Isshin & Mite Gai from Naruto.

Did I say 3 or 4? Apparently I meant 2. :/