Yeah, sorry if the story is going WAY to fast. I actually wanted Karin to be hit by a bus after she and toushiro kissed....i think i like the hollow death better. she could die of some ...uh dignity. :D

back in the real world

Hitsugaya stood at the edge of the road. There was a vase of flowers set out for the girl who had died there. Karin...

He gazed sadly at the spot. He hadn't been quick enough to have saved her. Instead of saying 'look out!' he should have gotten out of his gigai and killed the beast right there. Something about Karin just made him not act rational. He plucked a flower from nearby and placed it in the vase. He kind of smiled to himself. He realized there was good news and bad news.

The good news was that he could see her in Soul Society. The bad news was that finding her wouldn't be too easy. Rukongai is a huge place. Where under Earth could she be? (i've always been confused about this. is soul society under the real world in an alternate dimension?)

Hitsugaya sat down in thought. Where would the first place to look for her begin? He had never tried to search for anyone. He had never liked anyone the way he liked Karin. He guessed he could ask friends in Rukongai to look for an eleven year old black haired girl, but that was too broad a subject. Plus, he had no friends in Rukongai. He had his Granny but that was it. He guessed he could ask her, but she almost never left the old shack where they use to live.

Damn, I have to tell Kurosaki about this, he thought. Telling the family about it wasn't too pleasant.

Indeed, it wasn't.

flashback

Yuzu was preparing dinner, Karin's favorite, when she heard the doorbell ring. She checked the temperature of the stove so it wouldn't go up in flames while she went to get the door.

"Dad!" she yelled. "Can you watch dinner for me?"

Her dad came in dancing. He swung his hips from side to side while rotating around.

"Sure!" he sang. "An-y-thing for ma wit-tle girl!"

He skipped to the stove. Yuzu had a feeling he would burn himself. He always insisted on tasting the food aka picking it up with his bare hands and getting second degree burns.

Yuzu wiped her hands on the apron she always wore when cooking. She opened the front door.

"Um," she said, rather surprised at seeing a white haired boy on her doorstep. The white hair caught her eye that she didn't notice what was in his arms. When she realized staring at someone's hair was rather rude, she looked at her feet. The line of sight from his hair to her feet made her see the body in his arms.

"K-karin?" she whispered. "KARIN!"

"Is our other wittle girl home?" Dad sang skipping over. He stopped in his tracks when he saw the body of his dead baby girl.

He looked up, his eyes flashing with anger, at the boy carrying her.

"Did you do this?" he demanded to know, his voice rising.

"No," Hitsugaya said with guilt at having to tell a former Shinigami Captain whom he once trained with. "A monster did, Isshin."

Isshin, the father, knew then what 'monster' was. He knew of course because he was a Shinigami. He now had lost two of his loved ones. All because he wasn't able to save them in time.

back in present

Hitsugaya had left Karin's body in Isshin's arms and walked away. He couldn't stand to see the, he suspected twin sister, cry at the lost of Karin. He also felt he had failed Isshin. Isshin had been a classmate after all. They trained together in the Shinigami Academy. They were able to spar neck and neck and both were not so great at kidou. Hitsugaya graduated earlier than Isshin though.

He hoped that the two would hold a memorial or funeral or something to honor Karin. He walked back to the spot of her death. When he reached the spot, he stopped in his tracks.

"Matsumoto?"

The big chested woman was crying. "W-we o-only j-just g-g-got-ten to k-know her!" she bawled.

Matsumoto was also very aware of how hard it was to find someone in the Soul Society. She felt that she lost Karin forever. She felt an attachment to the girl. One could become good friends over the bond of loving to shop...actually one could bond over the fact one had dragged the other to shop, but that's not Matsumoto's point.

Hitsugaya stood next to Matsumoto. "Relax," he commanded. "you don't know that. We may well see her very soon."

Hitsugaya was going to try and do everything in his power to find her. No one kisses him and vanishes. Hollow or no hollow.

Matsumoto brightened. "Great!" she said recovering with such speed. "Cuz, I have a plan!"

Hitsugaya froze. Uh oh.

in Soul Society at Granny's house

Karin sat on the porch to the shack like house. She felt very comfortable with Granny. She was nice and sweet. Karin watched the sun rise. She had woken up so early in the morning. She just couldn't stand the scary dreams she had been having. They were so disturbing. She had dreams of a large monster with bulky horns cutting open her side, from ankle to shoulder. She shuddered.

The only good thing about that dream was in the end, the same white haired boy with large sea green eyes would rescue her. Time after time. Then her dream would descend into darkness and she would wake up. Each after she woke up, the same name would appear in her head. Toushiro....Hitsugaya.

She couldn't take the dreams anymore. They frightened her. She wanted to tell Granny about the dreams and the name but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Something warned her not to. She didn't know what is was but she couldn't do it. The last time she asked Granny something, Granny had started to have a glisten in her eye and a tear on the brink.

"Granny?" Karin asked. "Did you ever have any children of your own?"

Granny nodded. "Yes, I had a wonderful son and wonderful daughter in law."

"Really? What were they like?"

"Well my daughter in law had beautiful sea green eyes and amazing gold hair. My son had brown hair that was unruly and spiked all over the place and large blue eyes."

"Did they ever have a child?"

Granny smiled. Karin noted it was a sad smile. "One grandson."

"Whatever happened to him?"

"He left and became a Shinigami."

"What's that?"

"They protect all of us from hollows who are big scary monsters."

"I want to become one! It sounds great."

"No, child, that was the biggest mistake I made. Letting my grandson become one."

"Why?"

"I never saw him again."

"Child?"

Karin snapped out of her thoughts and looked up at the sky again. The clouds were always so round and fluffy. She wished she could fly up there to see them closer.

"Yes, Granny?"

"I have watermelons, do you want some?"

Karin smiled. Granny always had watermelons. "Sure."

Karin got up and went inside. On the table was a large bowl of watermelons. She picked one of the numerous slices up and took a large chunk out of it.

"Thanks, Granny," she said with her mouth full. "It tastes delicious."

Granny took a seat across from where Karin stood, devouring the watermelon. "Glad you like it," she said smiling. "My grandson loved watermelons." Granny looked like she was about to start crying again. Karin changed the subject.

"Is it okay if I walk around Rukongai for a while?" she asked.

"Okay, child. Just make sure you come back."

After Karin ate all of the watermelons she could hold, she ran out the door. She had never really seen Rukongai. She didn't really want to. Something about Granny made her stay with her. She seemed like a lonely old woman. She wished she could help her in finding her son. If her son became a Shinigami, shouldn't she become one too to find him? She wouldn't abandon her like he did.

She was so lost in her subconscious that she didn't see the boy in front of her. She full on crashed into him, making her fall down. He fell down too.

"Watch where you're going, bitch," he commanded, still looking forward. He turned his head, his butt sticking out.

"S-sorry," Karin uttered. She hated how mean some people were.

His eyes opened in shock. He quickly stood up and wiped off the dirt from his butt. He held out a hand. Karin stared at it.

"When you hold out a hand, you grab it," he instructed smiling.

Karin grabbed his hand and hoisted herself up. He went through attitudes quickly. She just wanted to walk away. She kept her feelings to herself and curled the corners of her mouth into a fake smile.

"Thanks," she said while wiping off her own butt.

"The name's Toyokawa Shota," the boy said, holding out his hand to shake. "What's yours?"

Karin smiled sadly, just like Granny. "I don't know," she said, looking at the floor.

"Oh," he said, dropping his hand. "You don't remember?"

"No," Karin said.

"Ah well," Shota said. "I'll just call ya Girl."

Karin laughed. She was called child and now girl. She needed to find her own true name. "Okay."

"What do ya like to do, girl?" Shota asked.

"Uh," Karin wondered. She couldn't think of any games she liked to do. "I don't know."

Shota hung his head and smiled weakly. "I'll teach you a game," he decided, standing up straight. "It's called soccer. I bet you'll love it."

Karin smiled back. "Okay."

Hitsugaya was called back after the Arrancar had captured Inoue. He decided to start looking for her. He was glad that since Captain-Commander Yamamoto had called them all back, he didn't have to tell Kurosaki the bad news. He would find out from Yuzu, rescue Inoue, and then kill Hitsugaya later.

Hitsugaya lay on the couch in front of his desk. Where to begin?

Matsumoto was deeply concerned about her captain. None of her jokes or pranks could get him to yell at her. He had changed ever since Karin had died. She understood slightly though. He had been abandoned (well actually she had been taken away) by Karin and all he could think about was finding her. She had felt the exact same way about Gin. He was after all the first person she had met. He saved her from succumbing to starvation. The normal pranks didn't work.

She had put puppies in his room, he quickly discarded them in the hall. Matsumoto had to clean up their little 'messes.'

She toilet papered the room, he froze them and made them break into tiny little shards. Matsumoto had to sweep out all of it before they melted and made the whole room wet.

She even went to the extremes and held a party. He blew everyone out with the ice cold wind reiatsu of had been hit full blast and now she had scratches. They hurt a lot.

At least most of those people were drunk. They'll feel it in the morning.

She stood behind the couch that Hitsugaya was lying on. She leaned over so her breasts spilled out, suffocating Hitsugaya.

"Matsumoto!" he yelled. "I'm not in the mood for your jokes."

But Matsumoto wasn't done yet.

She had gotten Hinamori to help her out too. Hinamori had just gotten better after being left by Aizen, she could understand some of the pain.

They both had left a huge amount of watermelons on his desk. They felt it would make him feel better. He ate them all in like one gulp but he still didn't even remotely smile.

Hinamori brought him an ice sculpture of a dragon but he cut it in half with his Zanpaktou. Uh oh, Hinamori thought. That was actually in Byakuya's garden. I hope he won't notice.

...

"Something's missing," Byakuya said looking at the place where the ice sculpture once stood. "What was it?"

...

Hinamori took the ice sculpture and threw it in the nearest garbage bin.

Matsumoto poked her head around the corner. "Any luck?" she asked.

"No."

Matsumoto came around the corner. "I think the only thing to cheer him up is finding Karin."

"Yes."

Matsumoto walked to the window and opened it. "I'll look in Rukongai's 1st District. You take the rest."

Hinamori stood shocked. "Wait a minute!"It was just like her to dump all the work on someone else.

Matsumoto was already out the window and on her way.

Hinamori stomped her foot and headed to the 79th District.

Karin and Shota were in a meadow far away from Rukongai.

"Why did we come so far away?" Karin asked.

"This is the only place where it is quiet and large, just like a soccer field."

"Oh."

Shota then went onto teaching Karin how to play the game. When Karin thought she understood, they started playing. Karin got the ball first. She ran towards Shota. He tried to block her but she dodged him easily. Shota fell on his face. She kicked the ball in between the two trees that they had decided would be Shota's goal. Karin smiled victorious.

"Wow," Shota whistled. "You're good. Did you ever play soccer in the real world?"

Karin thought about it. She could feel a memory rising up from the depths of her brain.

The same white haired boy hero passing her the ball. She kicks it and she scores on a taller looking person. Some boys crowd around her and the white haired boy, cheering. The boy just has a blank expression.

"Toushiro, it's all thanks to you," Karin tells the boy.

"You scored the winning goal, didn't you." He looked like he could care less.

"More importantly, I have something to discuss."

"Wh-what is it?"

"Earlier you..."

Another large monster shows up. It looked as frightening as the one in her nightmares. It smashes a hole in the soccer field, knocking everyone out. Hitsugaya pushes Karin out of the way. It tries to pick up the boys.

"Guys!" Karin calls.

"Wait, don't go."

"Toushiro, you can see it?"

"I'll explain later. For now, just run for it."

"No, I can't let my friends get hurt."

Karin kicks the soccer ball as hard as she could. It gently hits the side of the monster's face. Nothing happens.

The monster balls up his left fist and smashes it down. Karin closes her eyes. She opens them to see the white haired boy in black kimono with a white haori on top with the number, ten on the back . She envisions an orange haired teenager with the same black kimono on. Ichi-nii....What?

"Girl?" a voice calls out to her. "Are you there?"

Karin snaps out of it and turns to Shota. He had retrieved the soccer ball.

"Huh?"

"You were staring into space."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

Karin ran towards him and kicked the ball out from under neath his foot. She could feel something evil....the pressure on her mind was light. It hurt her head. She looked to her right. That way...

Shota was looking in that direction as well. "Can you feel it too?" he asked Karin.

"Yeah."

"Let's go see!" Shota started to run in the direction.

Karin yelled for him to stop. He wouldn't so she picked up the ball and ran after him. "Stop, Shota!"

He did stop but not before they both saw a huge monster.

"What is that?" Karin asked. It wasn't as scary as the ones in her dreams.

"It's a hollow."

"The thing that Shinigami kill?"

"Yes."

The hollow turned towards them and charged. Karin, out of instinct, dropped the ball and kicked the Hollow in the head. The hollow gave a yelp and started to disintegrate.

Shota turned his head in amazement at Karin. "That was so cool!" he yelled. "How did you do that?"

Karin ran to the ball and picked it up. "I..don't know."

"I've been thinking about this for a while now but I didn't want to go into it alone," Shota started. "How about we become Shinigami together?"

Karin nodded. "Sounds good." She liked the feeling of killing the evil creature. It had almost killed the two of them.

Part One on finding Granny's grandson was about to begin.

Please review! I am going to try and take it slow now!

Also, I think I am going to fast with this story (my brain is overloading with ideas) and so I think I'm going to put a new chapter like every week or so.