Usted Está Aquí
By Stalk Me

- * -

Chapter Three
Questions Linger

When she awoke, it seemed as though it had all been just a dream. The late morning sun filtered through the light pink curtains that hung in her and Yuzu's room, and the window had been cracked open slightly, letting in a breeze that was crisp with what was left of winter, but not overly chilly. The suffocating pressure around her had decreased substantially and her pounding headache existed only as a dull ache at the nape of her neck.

Karin stretched her arms over her head, yawned and threw the sheets aside. She sat up and cringed when she saw that she was still dressed in her school uniform. It was crinkled to the point where her teachers would reprimand her for it; thankfully it was Sunday.

She pulled the wrinkled garments off and dressed in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, running a brush through her hair quickly before she made her way down the hall and to the stairs.

The subdued din from the dining room reached her ears before she even came to the bottom of the steps. She turned and entered, stopping short when she saw that only three people sat at the table, eating donuts. Isshin sat at his usual spot at the head; he was chewing donuts with his mouth open, crumbs flaking off his lips as he rambled loudly, mostly to himself. Yuzu had returned from her sleepover, and she was proudly showing not-Ichigo – Kon – her make-over. Her hair had been straightened, a section of it braided and secured with a colorful bead. Make-up smeared across her face, yet Kon still smiled at her and told her she looked very pretty. He brought a hand to tuck her braid behind her ear, and Yuzu, oblivious that it was not her Ichi-nii, that Ichi-nii would never have done such a tender gesture in the first place, smiled dumbly back at him.

"KARIN! MY SPUNKY, OLDER DAUGHTER!" Isshin announced loudly.

Karin ignored her father's jovial greeting; her eyes found Kon's, and he stared at her pleadingly, as if begging her not to say anything that would give him away. Karin realized that she still had to play dumb. The show must go on.

"Where's Hitsugaya-kun?" she asked instead, settling down at the table. The chair next her hers was empty, the void of Hitsugaya sending shivers down her left arm.

"His parents found him and took him home," Isshin announced simply. The playful gleam in his eye was gone, signaling to the girls that the conversation was closed.

Karin immediately looked to Kon for answers. She leaned slightly forward, resting her arms on the table and raising her eyebrows questioningly.

Kon quickly looked away: Don't ask me.

Not realizing that Isshin and Yuzu were watching this nonverbal exchange curiously, Karin narrowed her eyes at him, as if reprimanding him. Kon kicked her under the table to remind her that they had an audience and to get her to stop. Tears immediately filled her eyes.

"There, there, kiddo. There'll be other cute boys in your life," Isshin said, interpreting her tears as tears of sadness over the loss of Hitsugaya. He reached a hand out to her and gently wiped away the tear that had escaped and rolled down her cheek.

It was then that it happened: the pressure around her increased, not to the extent that it had the night before, but enough to flare her headache to life again. Her stomach churned as Kon's words surfaced in her memory:

'He was human for awhile, but his powers are back now. They're reeking havoc on Karin.'

She stared, wide-eyed, at her father, fear settling in the pit of her stomach like a bucket of ice. What was he doing to her? A shiver ran through her body, and then she felt Kon gently nudge her foot with his own under the table, a comforting gesture, and perhaps an apology. Her eyes rounded on him. A corner of his lips pulled slightly upward, but his eyes were concerned.

Karin didn't want anyone to worry about her, so she swallowed her fear, pushing it deep down within her and ignoring the headache that banged between her eyes. She willed herself to be normal.

- * -

"Could you hold my baby?"

"Er…" Hitsugaya glanced questioningly over at Isshin, who nodded. The white-haired boy scowled and grudgingly held out his arms for the infant. He was Hitsugaya Toshirou, youngest Taichou in Soul Society history, owner of the strongest ice sword known to shinigami…babysitter.

The woman handed her baby over, and Hitsugaya held the gurgling droolball awkwardly at arm's length until Isshin walked over and silently instructed him on how to properly hold a baby. The tiny thing clutched at the white, medical coat that Isshin insisted Hitsugaya should wear over his normal clothes. Hitsugaya glanced down at the baby and quickly looked away when he realized that the little human was staring curiously up at him.

"So what seems to be troubling you today, Mrs. Yagami?" Isshin asked jovially.

"My sinuses! My nose is stuffed to the brink no matter how many times I blow it, and I go into these coughing fits that can last for minutes at a time!"

"Are the coughs dry or loose?" Isshin brought the earpieces of his stethoscope to his ears and stepped toward the woman, lifting her shirt and snaking his hand under to listen to her lungs. Hitsugaya blushed when he caught a glimpse of the woman's exposed stomach; he adverted his eyes quickly.

"Loose. Very, very loose, but it's not always easy to cough phlegm up. Sometimes it wedges in my throat and chokes me!"

Hitsugaya suppressed an eye roll; he was supposed to act professional after all.

"You do have a lot of liquid in your lungs," Isshin said after a moment of listening. He glanced over to Hitsugaya. "Wanna listen, kid?"

Hitsugaya glared at him. "I'm holding a baby."

Isshin's laughed slightly. "Fair enough," he said, his hand reappearing from under the woman's shirt. He wrapped the stethoscope around his neck once more then started poking at the woman's face. "Yeah, I can feel the pressure," he said. "You have sinusitis."

The woman blinked. "It's really called that?"

"Yep! Us doctors are anything but subtle. Hey, Hitsu-kun!" Hitsugaya winced at the nickname. Isshin had been calling him it for the past two weeks, ever since Hitsugaya had moved out of the house and into the apartment. Still, he figured it was better than Shiro-chan. "Come over here and feel the woman's face so you can learn what it feels like."

Isshin code: Use a little bit of kidou to relieve this woman of her sufferings while I write the prescription.

Hitsugaya sighed and walked over until he was standing in front of the woman. "Um, here," he said, awkwardly handing the baby back to her. She took the infant lovingly in her arms and leaned forward slightly so that Hitsugaya could reach her face.

His healing kidou wasn't amazing by any means – there was a reason why he hadn't been put in the fourth division. Still, he was good enough at it to help lessen ailments; patients had spent the past three weeks walking out of the Kurosaki clinic, announcing to all that they were already feeling better despite having to still get their prescriptions from the pharmacist. Business was starting to pick up; if it continued at this rate, Ichigo's college tuition would be paid off by the end of the year.

'If he even makes it back in time for college,' Hitsugaya thought morbidly. He shook his head, pushing the horrible thought away. If Ichigo didn't return home in time for college, then Hitsugaya would go through puberty on Earth. He didn't like the idea of staying away from his duties for that long, though the idea of going through puberty on Earth had its merits. Puberty in the shinigami realm was a long, tortuous process, and from what he heard, puberty on Earth was quick, much like a punch in the face, causing one to be momentarily disoriented before launching into the fray with renewed vigor.

"Yeah, I feel it," Hitsugaya said. He felt the small amount of kidou slip through his fingers as he gently tapped on the woman's face. Her eyes widened slightly.

"Wow, you have the healing touch," she commented gratefully. "I'm feeling better already!"

Hitsugaya offered her the slightest of smiles before he retreated to the far corner of the clinic. Isshin came forward and handed the woman her prescription. She then handed him her baby as she took out her checkbook to pay for the visit.

"And this!" she said, holding up a small amount of money, "is for you." She offered it to Hitsugaya.

He looked at the proffered money indifferently. "No, thank you," he replied.

The woman smiled and slipped it into the pocket of Hitsugaya's lab coat. "I insist," she said softly. She winked, then turned and took her baby from Isshin. The older man smirked at Hitsugaya as the woman said her goodbyes and exited the clinic.

"Shuddup," Hitsugaya warned as Isshin continued to smirk at him.

Isshin ignored his warning. "Women just can't resist Hitsu-kun's healing touch!" he teased.

"I said shut up!" Hitsugaya scolded. "Unless you want me to go bankai on your ass. I know you're out of practice." He half hoped Isshin would take the bait. His morning training sessions were excruciatingly dull without an opponent.

Isshin merely smiled, however, and busied himself by taking off his medical gloves and washing his hands. Hitsugaya sighed. He'd never get an opponent.

He was just about to suggest they get some lunch when he heard the front door slam. Isshin turned around form the sink, his brow furrowing as he looked at the clock on the wall.

"It's too early for the kids to be home from school, and we don't have another patient for over an hour," the older man said.

Hitsugaya followed him out of the clinic to investigate. A few steps into the kitchen answered their question; Kon stood in front of the refrigerator, the door to the freezer open and obscuring his face as he rummaged around in it.

"And what the hell are you doing home so early?" Isshin asked, crossing his arms over his chest in a very father-like gesture.

Ice tray in hand, Kon closed the freezer door and turned to face them; his face was covered with bruises and poorly mended scrapes.

"What happened to you?" Hitsugaya asked.

Kon emptied the ice from the tray onto a kitchen towel. "Ichigo has a lot of enemies," he explained, folding the towel and ice to form an ice pack for his face. "Even pubescent, human ones."

Isshin sighed. "Something tells me I'll be getting a call from the high school." A ringing sounded in the clinic. "Speak of the devil."

Hitsugaya waited until Isshin had left the room before he came forward. "I can heal that," he said simply. Then, without waiting for Kon's consent, he brought his hand to Kon's face, held it there while he released a slight amount of kidou, then pushed the older boy down, just for his own amusement.

Kon fell to the floor, muttering curse words under his breath until he caught his reflection in the dishwasher. "Nice work, Toshirou-kun," he said, examining his healed face. He jumped up to his feet. "Can you heal this one too?" he asked, lifting up his school shirt to reveal bruises along his ribs and stomach.

Hitsugaya furrowed his brow as he came forward to heal the bruises. "Did you fight back at all, Kon?" he asked.

"Nope," the older boy replied simply. "Would have killed them if I did."

Hitsugaya glanced up. "What do you mean?"

He just barely caught sight of Kon's kick a moment before it hit him. He blocked the blow, but his gagai wasn't strong enough, and he ended up flying backwards, hitting the wall with enough force to crack the plaster. The wind was knocked out of him, but he nevertheless smiled up at Kon as he coughed and choked on air.

"You forget, Toshirou-kun," Kon said, coming forward and extending his hand to help Hitsugaya up. "I'm not human either."

Hitsugaya accepted his hand and stood, his smile still on his face. "Hey, Kon?" he asked. "Do you want to spar sometime?"

- * -

The smell of acetone reached her nostrils, irritating the ubiquitous ache in her head.

"Ugh, Yuzu, what are you doing?" Karin complained, lowering her science textbook to scrunch her face at her sister.

Yuzu sat at their desk, a bottle of nail polish in hand as she attempted to paint her toenails for the first time.

"Sorry, Karin," the younger twin apologized. "I'll open the window." She stood and attempted to walk across the carpet on her heels as to not smudge her nail polish, and she therefore tottered on her first step.

"Sit back down, Yuzu; I'll do it." Karin said, getting up. The moment she stood, her headache intensified, causing her to pause and bring her palm to her forehead, squinting her eyes closed in an effort to block the pain.

"You ok?" Yuzu asked.

Karin forced herself to open her eyes, lower her hand and keep moving as if nothing happened. "Yeah. That stuff just gives me a headache," she said.

"You've been getting a lot of headaches lately," Yuzu commented.

Karin ignored her sister's concerned remark and opened their window. She closed her eyes and stuck her head out of the window, letting the early Spring breeze cool her cheeks and ease the pain in her head.

"Put your hood up, Toshirou-kun! If Isshin sees you this close to the girls, he'll knock me out of Ichigo's body and kill me!"

Karin's eyes immediately snapped open at the voice, and she glanced down to see Kon walking across the yard with a young boy. She just barely caught a glimpse of the boy's white hair before he hid it under his hood.

"You know, Yuzu, I think I need some juice," Karin said at once, pulling her head back inside.

"But we're out," Yuzu said.

Karin smiled and was already halfway out the door. "Good. I'll get some." She practically jumped down the stairs, called out to her father that she was getting juice, shoved her sneakers on and ran out the door and down the street. She caught sight of the two figures of Kon and Hitsugaya rounding the corner, making their way to the park. She kept them in her sight, but stayed far enough behind them so that they wouldn't notice that they were being tailed.

She had told herself to ignore it all: the headaches, the pressure, the monsters with the holes, the fact that her brother was gone and his body was being possessed by something called Kon, and, most of all, Hitsugaya's strange entrance and disappearance in her life. And for three weeks, she had tried. But the questions lingered, and all she wanted was some answers, for someone to be straight with her. So she followed them. Quietly. Hoping that they would give the answers away. It felt like forever before one of them talked. They were already halfway through the park when Hitsugaya broke the silence.

"So…any girls in Ichigo's life?"

It sounded like an odd thing for him to ask; even Kon turned and gave the white-haired boy a weird look.

"There are plenty of girls in Ichigo's life!" Kon replied. "Most of them run away from me in fear of getting molested though. Except for Tatsuki. I can't get her to leave me alone."

"I remember her. She had some spirit pressure."

"Yeah. She has more now. She's training with Urahara."

Hitsugaya stopped walking. "Really?"

Kon stopped as well and turned to look at the white-haired boy. "Yeah."

"Why don't you go ask her if she wants to spar with us?"

Kon raised an eyebrow skeptically. "She's not strong enough to go against us yet," he said.

Hitsugaya immediately grabbed the front of Kon's T-shirt, forcing the taller boy to bend over so that Hitsugaya could whisper something into his ear. As Hitsugaya whispered, Kon turned his head so that his gaze fell in Karin's direction. She gasped and darted off the path, hiding behind a huge oak tree, praying that she hadn't been found out.

Her heart pounded in her chest, and she held her breath in an attempt to calm herself, but it didn't help. She released her breath in a gasp of air that sounded loud even to her.

"I'm surprised, Kurosaki. I thought hiding was beneath you."

Karin jumped away from the tree to see Hitsugaya standing right next to her. His lips were twisted in a smirk as he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the tree. She hadn't heard him approach her.

"I…" she sputtered. "I…" Her eyes darted around, searching the park that was lit only by what was left of dusk and a few street lights. "Where's Kon?" she asked at last.

Hitsugaya raised an impressed eyebrow. "You know his name?" he asked.

Karin nodded.

Hitsugaya pushed himself off of the tree and took a step closer, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "Knowing Kon, he's probably off looking for porn or something. We were going to spar, but somebody was following us."

"So what if I was?" Karin snapped. "I have every right to look after my brother. Even if my brother's off somewhere and the only thing left is his body." She refused to admit to Hitsugaya that, despite knowing Kon's name, she was still left in the dark and had many questions. Questions she hoped that someone would answer.

Hitsugaya regarded her for a minute, his blue-green eyes staring at her so intently that she was forced to look away from him.

"Does your dad know you're here?" he asked at last.

Karin felt herself blush. "He thinks I'm getting juice," she admitted.

Hitsugaya nodded, then turned and walked back onto the path. "Ok. Let's go," he said.

"Go? Go where?" Karin asked, running to catch up with him, her heart pounding once again, but this time in the hope that Hitsugaya was taking her somewhere to answer her questions. She followed him in silence, her hope diminishing as they came to the busy street and walked up to the brightly lit convenience store.

Hitsugaya opened the door and glanced at her over his shoulder. "If you don't come home with juice, your dad will know you were lying earlier," he reasoned.

Karin glared at him; he had a point. She pushed past him and walked to the far wall of the convenience store, opening up one of the glass doors of the beverage cooler and staring blankly at the assortment of drinks, her anger and annoyance blinding her. It was then that she felt it: a chill on the back of her neck, not from the opened cooler, but from Hitsugaya leaning over her and reaching inside the cooler for a drink of his own.

"Come on, Kurosaki!" he scolded, oblivious to the fact that she had felt a chill radiate off of him. "I'm half expecting your dad to rush in here looking for you at any minute."

Karin immediately grabbed a drink and closed the cooler door, her eyes fixated on Hitsugaya, her questions multiplying after feeling the chill. He scowled at her stare and reached out to take the drink from her hand.

"Hey!" she whined.

Hitsugaya smirked at her. "Do you have the money to buy this?" he asked.

Karin opened her mouth to say yes, but then realized that in her haste, she had forgotten to grab money before leaving the house. She promptly shut her mouth, a blush creeping up her neck, much to her dismay.

Hitsugaya chuckled as he turned and approached the counter. He paid for both drinks, then handed hers back to her as they left the store and stepped out into the night air.

"Thanks," she mumbled, accepting her drink.

"It's ok; it's your dad's money anyway," Hitsugaya replied.

Karin looked up at him. "What?" she asked, softly.

Hitsugaya twisted the cap off of his drink and brought the bottle to his lips. He took a quick sip, then lowered the bottle. "I help your dad at the clinic while you guys are in school," he said. "He pays me for it." He was starting to walk away, in the opposite direction of the Kurosaki house.

"Don't you go to school?" Karin called after him. He had stayed home during the week that he had lived with them, but Karin had always imagined that he'd enroll into a school eventually; he didn't look much older than her.

Hitsugaya stopped walking and turned to give her an amused smile. "I thought you had me figured out already, Kurosaki," he said, his smile twisting into a smirk. "Shinigami don't go to elementary school."

Karin's eyes widened as he confirmed her suspicions. She knew her brother and, apparently, father were one, and she had guessed that Hitsugaya was in league with them, but hearing him confirm it sent a chill down her spine. She was both intrigued and a little frightened by him.

"Hey!" she called after him, as he reached the sidewalk. "When will I see you again?"

Hitsugaya waved her off. "Who knows," he called back. "Maybe never. But do yourself a favor; stop repressing your spirit pressure! It's giving you a headache."

And with that, he was gone, disappeared around the corner, heading towards downtown Karakura Town. Karin stood outside of the convenience store by herself, her head reeling.


End Author's Note: Just going to point out an inaccuracy before someone else does: When I have Hitsu use kidou, he doesn't say the appropriate spell (or whatever) when he does it. Like when shinigami use kidou in the manga, they say something like: "Random Japanese Word, Random Number, Another Random Word!" I thought about using babelfish or some other online translater to come up with random Japanese words to use for the kidou spells, but I decided that it would be a little weird for Hitsu to touch patients and spout nonsense, so I've decided that for the simple healing spells he's using, he can just think the spell and not say it. It also saves me the trouble of thinking up nonsense.

Anyway, I really like the little interaction between Hitsu and Karin at the end of this chapter. The beginning of the chapter, I'm not too thrilled with, but it's needed to progress the story. You can look forward to more Hitsu/Karin interaction in the coming chapters, as well as a romance for Kon, difficult choices, and the entrance of someone else in Hitsu's life.

And on a completely unrelated note, I caught up with the Bleach manga! What's going on with Ichigo!? Is he a full hollow now or what? I guess we'll find out.