Authors Note: Standard Disclaimers and all that. Story will hopefully pick up on the relationship front. HE will come. As well as all the other characters I like in the Bleach Universe. Feedback is most appreciated.

Arguments are to be avoided; they are always vulgar and often convincing.

Oscar Wilde

FINDING PATHS

She always knew she had her way with locks and passages and concealment—things people lost were ridiculously easy for her to find, things people hide were shown to her with the barest of effort—as if they were simply there for her to see and point out. She could find whatever she wanted and needed and has learned to do her searching mostly by feel. She has learned in time even the skill it would take to keep and maintain a steady link to those closest to her. It was the reason she found the truth about her brother so early on in his double life, the reason she knew which direction to avoid whenever he fights those monsters that came after him.

"We should take him to the clinic. It's a good thing we opened up the gate here. At least no one's going to freak that we just popped up."

"Oi, there's someone here. Looks like a little girl. It's like she's waiting for something. Think she's lost?"

"What? Ikkaku—what the hell are you talking about? What kid?"

"Karin-chan!"

"Shit! What the hell is she doing here?"

"Ichi-nii!"

"Oh shit! That's Ichigo's little sister!'

"Dammit, how did she find us here? No one even knew where we would pop up!"

Kurosaki Karin has a way of finding and feeling her way in any situation. As a child, it protected her from the usual gamut of dangers that the young face—bullying kids, weird teachers, and extremely suspicious adults.

"Karin-chan! Hurry up or we're going to be late!"

"Don't go there. Yuzu, I told you, don't use streets I haven't passed by myself…"

"But it's a short cut-!"

"It's not. It's a dead end."

"But how would you know that-!"

"I just do ok? Let it go."

It was a gift that she never really paid much attention to. It was simply another extension of her senses—her extremely diverse senses. Since her birth Karin has known that she was different and it wasn't just the coloring she didn't share with her twin. In truth, it was something she shared more with her oblivious brother. Perhaps not quite in the same scale and level as her brother whose spiritual strength and potential could be akin to a veritable force of nature. Her's was more subtle, more consistent and more attuned towards concealment rather than the outright show that seemed to be the way the males in her dysfunctional family handled talent.

"Ichi-nii! Where are you going now?"

"Stop bugging Ichi-nii, Yuzu."

"But Karin-chan!"

"He's not going anywhere dangerous. He's just off to his part-time job."

"You sure?"

"Yep."

"Oh well, in that case I suppose it's okay…now that I think about it, Dad isn't here either."

"Goat-chin can take the heck care of his own body himself. It's not our job to worry about his smelly hide."

"Karin-chan!"

"Move your butt Yuzu. We have class."

Her mother's death has slowed down her growth—grief inhibited her natural inclination to explore lest it create problems for those around her thus breaking her one promise she made on her mother's grave—but the past few years have made up for it. Since the night that changed his brother's world and opened up their family to the world beyond, her belated growth has slowly picked up pace once more, allowing for nature to resume its rightful pattern once more.

With the loss of Ichigo's not so inconsiderable reiatsu from her immediate vicinity, the surge and growth of her own powers has taken leaps and bounds. It was like the floodgate that was holding them at bay finally collapsed and now there was no going back.

She feels ghosts more keenly now because unlike her brother's reiatsu, her own doesn't leak out, blocking out everything within a three-mile radius. Feeling them was the least of little adjustments she has had to make. She could touch spirits freely, and at times even keep them at bay. The only difference is now she could sense almost every ghost in town and know what each one of them was feeling. She could even sense things—things that bore the special stamp of left-over feelings and thoughts, even spaces that no one else seemed to see. In the two years that Kurosaki Ichigo's powers winked out of existence, Kurosaki Karin has learned to feel her way through things, places, and people—both living and nonliving ones. She has always had a way knowing—a sixth sense where danger occurs and who's involved in it. It may also the reason why it was her who stumbled across a scene no one in their right mind expected to see on her route to school.

PRESENT

Karin's POV

"Karin-chan!Oh! Sensei's going to make us hold buckets of water again!"

"Not going to happen…old man Takenori pulled a muscle this morning…he isn't going to lurk in any gate any time soon, "

I muttered, wincing when I realized what I just said. I chanced a glance at my usually distracted twin but to my utter horror, she was staring straight at me.

"What did you say? How would you know-?"

"Nothing! Forget about it ok? Never mind what I just said—it's not important. Ignore it. We better hurry up!"

"But you just said-!"

I could've kicked myself. I should know better than tell my sister the first thing that pops in my head.

It's a lesson that's just a little hard for me to get used to, no matter how much I tell myself it's for my sister's and everyone else's good. I'm more used to the notion of saying whatever it was that's in my head without filtering it out—especially not with the one person that I shared just about everything with. Yuzu's the light that I lacked. It would've been more likely for me to commit mass murder than deny her the thoughts inside my head. It's like asking someone to filter out half of their minds and I ain't that schizophrenic yet.

We walked the few blocks that led to our school and I was busily contemplating the rest of the day when I realized belatedly that I left behind my sister staring at something I totally failed to notice.

"Yuzu, even if I knew Takenori won't be lurking like a big monkey by the gate we would still be late if you-! Yuzu?"

"Karin-chan whatever do you think they're doing over there?"

"What?"

Damn…I hated it when it gets so bad that I don't notice things around me. It only ever happens when Yuzu's around since unlike all other human and even the not-so-human entities that float all around me alerts my senses and Yuzu does the exact opposite. In all the known universe, only she could completely block me out from everything simply by standing still.

"Dammit! I just had this made two weeks ago…"

"Karin-chan! Your language, please!"

The scandalized screech made me madder. It wasn't that I was deliberately crude or anything—I mean, try being pissed off and see if your mouth doesn't operate on autopilot. I glared at my sister and wouldn't you just know it—the little scamp just glared right back at me.

"Why are you staring at me like that? I have a point. A lady should know better than talk like you do."

"Da-da-drat it Yuzu, not these bozos again. Why can't they at least give it a rest even for a week? I just punted them into the stratosphere last Tuesday for Kami's sake! Can't they give someone a freaking rest? It's the beginning of the freaking week dammit!"

"Karin-chan!"

This time the screech was as much for me as for my stubbornness. I gave her a sheepish smile and tried once more to accommodate my sister's more sensitive sensibilities. I gave her an absent-minded wave and stared to step towards the scuffling group of boys my eyes finally picked up.

"Yeah, yeah language, I know already, sheesh."

"Isn't that Tachibana-sempai? Should I intercede?"

I gave my sister a disbelieving look. Sometimes I really do wonder if maybe the gods made sure we were born together so that I could protect my sister from the world. Or the world from my sister. I looked at the overly hormonal mountain of a man disguised as a teenager causing my problems and gave an indelicate snort while leveling a finger towards the boy in question.

"I wouldn't call him Sempai if you paid me and you sure as heck shouldn't bother Yuzu. Stay here. I'll try to break it up."

"But Karin—I'm the one who's a member of the Disciplinary Committee! I should-!"

I gave my sister 'the look'. Normally, I don't have to do anything except scowl and cock an eyebrow and she would back down. The intervening years made her a little immune and allowed her to grow a spine against it. Damn.

"You should stay right where you are. I don't want you near okay?"

"But Karin-chan-!"

This time I pinned my sister with a look only a few girls and far too many boys would recognize. It was the same look in my eyes I was told I wear when I compete in any of the sports I play. It was a look—they said—could and did freeze their blood made it run cold. My voice, this time, was no longer indulgent or teasing. It was controlled and unfeeling—the same flat, monotone I normally take with everyone except with her. It was the voice that suits me in THAT PLACE.

"No. You will stay right there. If it turns ugly, use your phone and call the cops okay?"

"O-okay Karin-chan. Just—be careful okay?"

I nodded and offered her another smile—albeit a warmer, far more genuine one. It was my "twin's only" smile. I raised my right hand and gave her a salute.

"No worries. Be done in a sec, sis."

Mondays…I knew there was a reason I hated this one particular day amongst all the others. Mondays normally resulted in surly kids, in surly moods, doing things that's guaranteed to piss someone else and make THEM surly. It's a vicious cycle that never seems to find any ending—except during school holidays and vacations.

"You think you're so tough, dontcha punk?"

The gravely, annoyingly nasal voice of one Tachibana Hideki was a dead-give away even if I had stumbled upon the scene blindfolded and in the dark. It was a voice that nagged at me since I was old enough to step into the hallowed playgrounds and parks of Karakura Town.

"I wasn't aware that I was broadcasting anything—mentally or otherwise."

This new voice was faint…unknown and unheard of and yet something about it made me pause in my stride. Shaking my head to clear it, I focused on the here and now. The voice I heard maybe both familiar and unknown but dwelling on it right at that moment is definitely not wise. I could solve the dratted mystery behind the voice that creates feelings of déjà vu later.

"You wise crackin' me punk? Don't you know where you are?"

Gotou Akihiro, Tachibana's much vaunted right hand man followed his leader both in girth and sheer lack of common sense. Not for the first time I wondered why he possessed such a name that obviously failed to give him a clue on how to become when he grows up. The only thing his name got right was the large part—he's the size of a truck if at all. The only thing bright about him was the fact that he could block out the sun from the standpoint of a little kid pinned by him on the ground.

"On my route to school last time I checked."

Déjà vu. There is was again…that strange frisson of knowing…but it was becoming more elusive—like a half-forgotten dream that's already fading. I quickened my step. The owner of the only voice and figure I wasn't familiar with was either incredibly cantankerous or unaccountably dense. I prayed that it was the latter. If it was the former then I couldn't guarantee that the scene today wouldn't have a repeat. It didn't help matters that the Matsunaga twins were also there.

"Oh man, you're really asking for it you pansy goth freak."

"Yeah, goth-boy, were going to beat you so bad you will be ready for your own funeral, you freak!"

Time to take a more pro-active approach. No sense getting involved if the victim got 'victimized' while I was doing the rescuing. That will ruin everything and earn me an earful from Yuzu. The downside to having a bossy angel for a twin is that I can't win with an argument or a fight.

"Gentlemen! Your language please! "

Hah! I'm sure Yuzu would be snickering somewhere hearing as how I went ahead and used the same complaint she had with my own tongue with the idiots that now stood in front of me. I stood there, in the same insolent pose I sported when I confronted them bullying a freshman not a week ago. The irony, I knew, was lost to anyone but me. My fingers flexed in anticipation and idly I wondered if beating the occasional punks would qualify as suitable warm up exercise for my soccer practice later on in the day.

"Wh-what? W-who said that? I'm going to-!"

"Hello, Ahou-tachi. What exactly was it that you were saying? What are you going to do, hmm?" I asked sweetly.

The following reaction was expected. They all did their patented impression of landed trout. It would've been seriously amusing if I didn't have to witness it every single time each week for the last four years of my life. Why can't these bozos ever try something new? Like maybe use their brains for once.

"Ah-ah!"

"Dammit! It's her!"

"Kurosaki!"

"What the hell are you doing here stupid Class Representative?"

"Ah, come on, haven't you learned my name yet, Idiot—Tachibana? I'm hurt!"

"Damn you Kurosaki! Get the hell outta here. This is none of your concern! Stay the hell outta my business or I will beat you up too!"

"Oh please! I'm not in the mood for games and I'm already late. And if you make me ruin my clothes again, I really will kick your sorry ass into the next century."

I'm just teaching him a lesson here, so why don't you go take that prissy, girly sister of yours and shove it before I get mad and rip her new undies and make her into my girlfriend! !"

What happened next was not my fault. Honestly. But there were just some lines I don't allow people to cross and Idiot-Tachibana not only stumbled into it—he stomped his way right in until I had no choice but to rip him a new one. Mondays…seriously hate it. He should've picked any other day of the week. He wouldn't have gotten into too much trouble then. But then again he might really be too dumb to realize I don't allow somethings to be said in the presence of a lady-especially if that lady doesn't mean me.