Hi all! So here is Chapter 2 of Memories. I'm happy to be updating so soon but to tell you the truth I already have the first couple of chapters written out for this story. It's just a matter of typing them up and editing them.

I apologize for such a short chapter and I promise I'll try to make them longer.

Enjoy

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach

Chapter 2: Karin

"Onee-chan! Onee-chan!"

Karin groaned. Why couldn't she have just five more minutes?

"Onee-chan!" A different voice that time; a very annoyed voice.

"What!?" Karin growled, looking towards the voices.

"Come out and play!" The first voice belonged to the youngest of the three children staring back at her. Hikaru, nine years old and the cutest little bundle of blonde hair and blue eyes the village had ever seen. Next to him, with hands on her hips was the second voice, eleven year old Akiko, practical mother of Hikaru unitl Karin showed up. She was a bossy little thing with black pigtails and bright, startling green eyes.

"Onee-chan, it's nearly noon." She said. Behind them stood twelve year old Hiroshi, strangely quiet this morning, his black hair a ruffled mess and his gray eyes thoughtful. He looked a lot like Karin, though she knew they weren't really related.

Karin groaned. Why did she agree to taking care of three little kids again? Oh yeah, because the village elder had asked her to when she showed up at the village four months ago.

"Alright, alright, I'm up!" Karin bounced out of her bed with a surprising burst of energy that got Hikaru and Akiko racing out the door giggling. Hiroshi hadn't moved. "Don't they know how to let a girl sleep?" He just shrugged and pointed at a basket on their table.

"It's food shopping day." He said quietly. Karin sighed as she picked her blanket up off the floor.

"Is something the matter?"

Hiroshi shrugged before following the earlier footsteps of his siblings. Karin sighed again, then threw on a pair of pants and a tee. How was she, at sixteen, supposed to raise three kids when she was pretty sure that she herself wasn't even fully grown?

Grabbing the basket, Karin headed outside into the bright sunlight, the wind blowing her loose hair into her face. She really needed to get it cut. Her three siblings stood by the gate that separated the road from their yard. They lived in a small two room cottage just outside the village of the 29th district of East Rukongai. It was quiet, it was peaceful and Karin absolutely loved it. The walk was a little hectic; Hikaru able to get a reluctant Akiko to race him into town. Karin followed, giggling, with a silent Hiroshi next to her. He seemed nervous but Karin didn't push him to talk. Hiroshi wouldn't talk until he was ready.

"Ha! I beat you!" Akiko stated proudly as Karin and Hiroshi rounded a bend in the road. Akiko stood at the first house leading into the village, with her hands on her hips. Hikaru stood next to her pouting.

"Nu-uh." He retorted, "You cheated."

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Enough." Karin said as she walked passed them. The two fell in behind her, bickering quietly.

"Good afternoon Karin-chan."

"Good afternoon Oba-san." Karin replied to the little old lady she sometimes ran errands for. Her house was halfway down the road that led into the village square.

"Are you going to market?"

Karin nodded in affirmation.

"Well watch your step. There are a whole bunch of Shinigami asking questions in the square."

"Thank you Oba-san." Karin said politely. Inside, however, she was curious. The occasional Shinigami would sometimes come through on patrol so I wasn't all that odd to see a black-clad guard in the market. But a group of them asking questions? Now that was dd. She was curious as to what they could possibly be looking for, but as always she would be sure to keep her distance. As curious as she was and as interesting as they were Karin had never been completely comfortable in their presence. They seemed so familiar yet so foreign and it freaked her out just a little bit. Especially since she'd never seen a Shinigami before four months ago. Or at least she didn't think she had. She remembered very little before four months ago but she had been reassured that, that was normal.

As Karin stepped into the market she immediately saw what Oba-san had been talking about. There was black-clad Shinigami everywhere.

"There's Minoru." Hiroshi said suddenly pointing toward his best friend. Karin nearly jumped out of her skin. She had forgotten they were with her.

"And Yukari!" Akiko said happily.

"Go ahead." Karin said smiling, "I'll find you later."

Karin watched as they raced off, thankful it was away from where the Shinigami conducted their business. No need for any incidents.

"Oi Mizuki-san!" Karin called out as she entered one of the houses behind a closed food vendor stand.

"Ohiyo Karin-chan." An older lady with dark brown hair and the same colored eyes stepped out from where Karin knew the kitchen to be. She was a single mother of a two year old, her husband killed by a stray hollow the year before. Karin spent most of the week doing errands and helping out Mizuki-san around the shop in order to make some money. At the end of the week Karin spent that money buying food from Mizuki-san at a discounted price. It was a good deal.

"You do realize it's the afternoon already right?" Karin asked placing her basket on an empty chair.

"Yes but if you're just getting to me now then that means you were still asleep not that long ago." Mizuki said with a knowing grin, "Unless you got stopped by one of the Shinigami?"

Karin shook her head.

"What do they want?"

"Want to know if anyone has seen or heard anything out of the ordinary."

"But it's been quiet." Karin said, cocking her head to the side.

"True." Mizuki-san said as she filled Karin's basket, "Here it has been at least but there are a lot of other villages that may not be so peaceful."

Karin shrugged as she picked up her now full basket and placed money in Mizuki-san's hand.

"Whatever. I'll see you tomorrow Mizuki-san."

The woman shook her head.

"I think Touhma may be coming down with something. Take the day off."

Karin nodded.

"Tell him I said hi." She said as she left.

The Shinigami were gone when Karin walked out of the building. Hiroshi, Akiko and Hikaru were all sitting nearby watching the villagers go about their business.

"Well this is new." Karin said as she walked towards them, "Usually I have to chase you all down."

"Hiroshi ruined our game." Akiko huffed but she didn't didn't elaborate. Karin raised an eyebrow. That was new too. As unofficial leader of their little gang, Hiroshi was usually the one creating the games and making sure everyone got along.

Hiroshi ignored his little sister as he took the basket from Karin.

"Can we go home now Onee-chan?" He asked quietly. Karin nodded. Hikaru and Akiko went racing off again and Karin and Hiroshi followed. As they left the village Hiroshi finally spoke.

"Onee-chan I think someone is following us."

Karin half froze, half tempted to turn and half tempted to grab Hiroshi and just run.

"Not now." Hiroshi clarified, "But every once in awhile when we leave the village or we're playing in the yard I feel a...presence." He hesitated as if unsure that was the proper word.

"Do you ever see anybody?" Karin asked, still tense. She had always been able to sense presences but she never felt them being watched before.

"No I never see anything."

"Am I ever there?"

"Always. I never sense them when you're not."

Karin felt disturbed. Why hadn't she been able to sense anyone?

"Hold up. Did you say them?"

"Mmhm." Hiroshi began walking again, "There's always more then one presence but it's hard to tell sometimes cause they all feel exactly the same way."

"How long have you been noticing these presences?"

"For awhile. I never said anything before because they always left really fast. It was until a couple of days ago that they started staying longer and now there are even more of them."

Karin swallowed the lump in her throat.

"You let me know the next time you sense them, okay Hiroshi?"

"Okay Onee-chan. And onee-chan?"

"Yes?"

"I don't think the presences like us very much."

Karin shuddered involuntarily. Things certainly just got out of the realm of ordinary.

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