Karin awoke just in time to feel a cool, damp cloth be placed on her forehead, but didn't open her eyes. She could feel the beginnings of a headache behind them and feared the light would only make it worse. Luckily for her, the strength to lift her eyelids didn't seem to be with her anyway. She felt hopelessly fatigued, and worried she might not be able to get out of—

A bed? Was she in a bed? If she was, then that meant she was home again. She should have relaxed at that, but thoughts of her bed now went hand-in-hand with worries of a Hollow's home invasion. One could burst in while she was laying there all weak and helpless, and with her dad's powers still returning, that meant it would have every chance to make short work of Yuzu.

She was aware that her fist clenched, but didn't feel it, her fingertips were so numb. She wanted to sit up right then, but all feeling seemed to have been pulled from her body up into her now-throbbing head, because the rest of her was as numb and heavy as if she were dead. Maybe she was close. God, what had happened to her?

More importantly, what had happened to Byakuya?

She'd never seen his steely eyes go so wide before, not that so wide for Byakuya was even wide for anyone else. Still, she'd seen his emotionless mask slip for a split second, as if he were scared of her, and it was the last thing she saw. Right after that, she'd felt something unseen slam into her and then seem to start squeezing the life out of her, choking off her breath as it constricted her entire chest. She'd only barely managed to squeak out his name to try and snap him out of his daze before everything went black.

Yuzu, she mouthed, her voice refusing to join her lips. She tried again. "Y...Yuzu..."

Well, it was whisper-quiet and raspy, but it was something.

"Please don't try to speak, Miss," came a voice that was definitely too old to be her sister's. She strained to open her eyes, and after her vision stopped swimming, found the voice's owner: an older-looking woman with an easy, many-lined smile, dressed in a white smock over some surprisingly expensive-looking clothes. Her grey-brown hair was done up in a tight bun, over which was draped a silken handkerchief, tied about her head like you did when you cleaned.

And this wasn't her room either. It was closer in size to her den at home...or maybe even the entire first floor. Her view of the expansive place was segmented by the posts that rose up from the ends of the bed to suspend the sagging silk canopy above her, and was completely hidden on one side by the bed's silky curtain, wafting in the breeze which eased in through the large, open window beside it. The older woman stood, hands folded, on the other side of the bed, which had its curtain pulled back.

"...Where am I?" Karin asked weakly.

"The Kuchiki estate, Miss," answered the woman cheerily but softly. "I'm glad to see you're awake, you were unconscious for quite a while."

Before Karin could ask how long she'd been out, she was cut off by an intense pang in her stomach which accompanied a rather embarrassing growl. She blushed, but the older woman grinned.

"I see your appetite hasn't left you," she said with a happy nod, "that's good news." With that, she left, Karin hoped, to get food. She'd never felt so hungry in her life, even after a soccer game. But she wasn't going to be fed by that woman, so she rather painfully hauled herself up so that the pillow on which her head had rested now supported her back.

A while later, long enough for Karin to nearly nod off again while waiting, the woman returned, jarring her. She blinked heavily at the woman as she spoke. "Dinner is ready, Miss," she informed her.

"...Alright," said Karin hesitantly. Then the woman half-turned to splay her hand out at the open door behind her.

"It will be served in the dining hall. Please feel free to make your way down whenever you feel well enough," she said politely.

"Oh...I don't think..." Karin tried, but her legs failed her, "I can't walk," she admitted resignedly.

"Please take your time, Miss. There's plenty to go around," said the woman. When she caught Karin's rather desperate expression, she sighed somewhat sadly. "Unfortunately," she began compassionately, "Byakuya-sama has forbade eating in bed. It is...improper," she repeated, though she said the last word without meaning it.

Karin huffed in exasperation. "Could you at least help me out of bed?" she pleaded. Again, the woman took on a forlorn look.

"Byakuya-sama has told us that you must stand on your own. He said...that you should be able to walk by yourself."

He did, huh?


Byakuya had to admit, he was surprised when Karin came hobbling into the dining hall. He'd expected that maybe she'd simply resign and fall asleep once more. Just as well, rest would do her as much good as food at the moment, but it seemed she was very determined. Her eyes were very cold as she glared at him, and for once he thought he might understand what others felt when he looked upon them. And he was mildly amused at that...

No, no he wasn't. This girl was bothersome, not amusing.

"I see you're feeling better," he gave her, but she didn't respond. He gestured to a servant to begin bringing out the dinner courses, and together they ate in silence.

The girl was ravenous, though it was unsurprising.

When enveloped in a reiatsu far beyond one's own, the soul naturally tried to fend it off by pushing against the oppressing force. But that meant squeezing out its own reiatsu to compete with the other, and though it ensured that one didn't get crushed under its power, it also drained the soul, and to a much greater extent if the opposing reiatsu was of Captain-level. It greatly surprised Byakuya that hers had been enough to hold up against his for that amount of time, especially since her hours of training had already exhausted a fair amount of it beforehand.

Maybe there was something more to her than he'd first assumed. Strictly ability-wise, of course.

...No. He would only be lying if he denied that there was something else in her. Something dangerous. Something which ensured that this would be her first and last meal in Soul Society.

Size was not a factor to a Shinigami who was completely empty of reiatsu, and they would simply eat until it was replenished, even if the amount of food consumed could not logically fit in the stomach.

Such was certainly true for the girl, and she mostly ignored him in favour of food, though whenever their eyes did meet, she would slow and become a little pink. But her eyes never softened.

About an hour later, when the last of the plates had been cleared, Byakuya took his chance to finally speak. "I trust you've had your fill."

"...Sorry, sensei," she said meekly, drawing her shoulders up close to her face and planting her hands firmly in her lap, looking embarrassed. Where had all the anger gone? Why was she being like that? In a way that was almost—

"It would be best if you ceased coming to Soul Society," said Byakuya. That was becoming truer by the moment, at least to him.

Karin blinked at him, shocked. "What? But I'm not done training yet," she whined. It was, he was relieved to admit to himself, annoying.

"It is clear to me that you are not fit for life as a Shinigami. I shall inform the Commander of this assessment, and you shall be freed of any future obligations to Soul Society," he explained, he thought, very clearly. There should have been no problem.

But of course, there was.

"That's not fair!" she yelled. Her vigour had obviously returned with the intake of food. "I'm sorry I imposed on you, but...but I..."

This was precisely why she needed to leave, now. Not because of the incident earlier, which had been entirely his fault, and had in fact revealed to him her reiatsu's potency; and it was of no consequence to let her use his sister's room when she barely did so herself anymore, let alone share his food, of which there was always too much, especially since Rukia came around far less often. No, the very reason she had to leave was the way she begged to stay, with a hurt in her eyes that threatened to infect even Byakuya himself.

A dangerous thing, indeed.

"Enough," he said to stop her stammering. "I have made my decision. You shall leave tonight and not return. This is not the life for you."

"Did I...do something wrong?" she asked, staring down at her lap, sounding profoundly sad.

"On the contrary," came Byakuya later than he'd intended, after he'd regained the power to speak, "the mistake was mine. I should never have accepted to train you."

The pain in Karin's glistening eyes might have hit the common man hard enough to sway him, but Byakuya steeled himself, as was usual in those situations.

"Let us go," he said.


It felt great to stretch his legs again, Kon thought, even if they weren't strictly his legs.

He happily lapped up his strawberry ice cream from the cone as the arm which held the bag with the adult magazine inside swung back and forth with his excitement. He had to admit, there were perks to Ichigo being engaged to Neesan, because he'd needed Kon in his body more and more often. But he still resented the reason.

He took note of how low the sun had gotten as he realized where he'd strolled to. He would have to run all the way back to Ichigo's university quite fast to make his deadline, but that was no problem for legs like his. So he guessed he could afford to linger a little longer before turning back.

His lingering brought him to the Urahara Shoten, where he felt he hadn't been in ages. He took in the place with a sense of nostalgia. It was exactly the same as he remembered. So of course, he realized when it suddenly became glaringly different.

Those paper doors definitely hadn't been there before, not in the middle of the grounds.

They parted to let a small Shinigami with black hair pass through.

"Neesa—"

Oh. Not Neesan.

"Karin...?"

Ichigo's sister knocked into Kon hard enough to force the breath from his lungs and send his ice cream to splatter on the ground. He didn't think she knew exactly whose chest she was sobbing into, but he figured he'd better put his now-free arm around her anyway.

But then her breath hitched. "...Ichigo?" she asked into his chest as if unsure. Smart kid.

"...No," answered Kon, unsure of what else to do. He started to release his hold on her, sure that she would want away from the imposter, but she instead shoved herself deeper into his chest and sobbed with renewed intensity. He replaced his arm.

"You...you're Kon-san...then?" she hiccoughed past her tears.

What?

"Uh...yeah." When had she—?

"Urahara-san told me before," she explained, sounding weak.

"I thought—didn't you have soccer practice?" Kon asked, feeling very dumb as he did. Clearly it had been some sort of lie, but it was one Ichigo and his dad both seemed to believe. She shook her head into his chest.

"I was...training...but I...I couldn't do it," she sobbed.

Kon held her at arm's length, then turned around and crouched. "Get on," he said, holding his arms palm-up behind him.

"What?" he heard her ask.

"I'm taking you home. Get on," he repeated.

"I can..." she began to protest before seeming to realize the exhaustion that Kon had sensed in her. Whatever had happened in Soul Society had drained her, both physically and emotionally. After a moment, she complied, and he hiked her up on his back as he stood so she could drape her arms over his shoulders.

"Thanks," she said tiredly as Kon started for Isshin's house. He wouldn't be surprised if she fell asleep on the way, but that was okay.

"Don't worry about it," he told her. For a long while she was quiet, and he was sure she'd dozed off, until she piped up again.

"Were you really Bostov?" she asked, and Kon's ears twitched at the name, growing hot and probably red.

"...Yeah..."

She chuckled. A little bit later, she asked, "What's in the bag?"

Kon blushed furiously. "It's nothing, don't worry about it."

"But—"

"Just try to go to sleep," he said in a calming tone. She really needed sleep.

He thought she was going to argue, or continue questioning him, but not a minute later, her rhythmic breathing was tickling his ear.