A/N: I'M SO SORRY!!!!!!! I know, I know, it's actually been more than a month since my last update, but this time it's actually not my procrastinating fault. Really, it isn't. IT'S WINDOWS 7! Has anyone installed this software? It sucks. I'm still not able to access my USB key where all of my CtPS stuff is on my PC, and for the first two weeks the internet was always getting disconnected, Word kept freezing, and the computer kept randomly shutting off. The other computer (our Mac, our beautiful, beautiful Mac) has been so damn reliable but has been prioritized for homework purposes. And if that wasn't enough i've been on some crazy writers block, which leads me to my next point:

I don't like this chapter.

I don't like how it turned out, and I've completely rewritten it about three times by now. It has finally become a piece I'm not really proud of, but is good enough that I'll publish it. That's my waring for you. On a better note, (and shorter), I have read through and LOVE Fairy Tail! Read it. Love it. Write about it. Read my profile for further updates.

Disclaimer: I don't own or are affiliated with Tite Kubo's Bleach, the title that came from a movie called "Dead Poets Society", and also do not own (and never wan to be affiliated with) Windows 7. My opinion of it though, is simply my opinion.

This chapter is being dedicated to KazeNoSakura, who encouraged me to keep writing despite the writers block, and who reviewed this story 5 times, and even reviewed Just Keep Swimming, for a total of 6 reviews! Merci!


O-x-x-x-x-O Chapter 8: Oh Captain, my Captain

Karin woke from her sleep lazily as she lent up against the back cushions on the couch and rubbed her eyes, pushing aside her exhaustion for a later time. It was time to adapt to the new time schedule. Slinging up the side of her black robes back onto her shoulder Karin groggily heaved herself up and panned the room, blinking tiredly as the memories seeped back to her.

"Your finally awake then?"

Karin turned to the source of the sound to find Hitsugaya sitting on a chair with his feet propped up onto the table reading a book. She tried not to look long, but it became such a difficult task to avert her eyes from scanning him after the inviting atmosphere enveloped her. The tension from before had disappeared close to completely and the air felt so much easier to breath in. There was no more pressuring weight, no suffocating sense of impending doom that Karin hadn't been able to shake, everything just felt so much lighter. He wasn't so much of an enemy now, more like a aggravating watch-guard that she didn't mind spending time with.

An annoying, smart-mouthed, egoistic, protective, acquaintance.

Yes, Karin thought without holding back a grin,that summed it all up quite nicely.

Hitsugaya didn't let it go unnoticed and shifted awkwardly under her gaze, "What's that look for?"

Karin shrugged and stretched her arms out, loosening up her tight muscles after an admittedly uncomfortable sleep. "Nothing. Nothing at all."

Hitsugaya wasn't satisfied but dropped the subject. He was smart enough by now to not try and pry when he knew the answers would stay locked tightly behind her pulled back, smirking lips. Rolling his eyes he returned his focus to the pages of the book he had dug himself a satisfactory three hundred pages into and spoke aimlessly, "Were going to see Unohana again today."

"What?"

"Your sword." He raised his head out of the book and tilted it in the direction it still laid on table, "Were going to go see her about it today."

"That's strange. Back in Hueco Mundo we never had the doctor deal with this kind of stuff." Inwardly though Karin was thankful. She had no intentions to go see another doctor much less a scientist, all of which seemed to bring back only bad memories better left forgotten.

"Well to be honest, I really should be taking you to Mayuri-Taichou, but that wouldn't be a very smart idea. Not to mention Unohana says there been sometime of development she's like to see you about." Paying heed to Karin's sudden change in expression Hitsugaya hastily added, "Nothing big though."

Karin's face fell flat. "Oh. Sure, whatever. When are we going?"

Hitsugaya strained his neck to turn his head far to the left and checked the clock, "Relatively soon, in about half-an-hour actually. We'll know when it's time to go."

"How?"

Hitsugaya twitched the corner of his lips into a grin, "When everything goes quiet."

Karin didn't notice just how loud it was until he had directly pointed it out. The rustling outside in the corridor the muffled voices through the door and the padding of feet going this way and that, everyone had work to do and there was simply no time to stop. Karin was surprised that it hadn't come to her before. She sighed and plopped back onto the couch with a thud, fully prepared to be a moderately good little girl for the next half-an-hour and wait out the time watching the clock, before Hitsugaya spoke up. "You can have breakfast you know."

"Huh?"

"Breakfast? There might be something in the fridge. Go ahead take whatever you want, I don't eat much here anyway. Never the time."

"Food?" She almost flushed at the rumble her stomach emitted at the mere thought, "Ugh yeah. That'd be a good idea." Karin sauntered over to the fridge and opened the white door. Pulling out what looked to be leftovers she walked to the table across form him and sat down, pulling her knees to her chest and off the ground, she finally found a place comfortable on the wooden chair. Leaving an awkward thanks his way, she tried to not think about how nice it would be for once to do this again sometime.

O-x-x-x-x-O

"Come, on! We don't have much time! We've already wasted two of our minutes!"

Karin scurried around the room, fishing in every cupboard and beneath couch cushions for the pills she was supposed to take before they left. "Getting to it!" Finally spotting the small bottle along side a pair of her discarded change of clothes Karin reached down and snatched it, all while trying to run to the door.

"Oh wait water-"

"No time! Just swallow it whole."

"But this stuff is so-"

"Let's go!"

Karin twisted her head back and forth from the still open door to Hitsugaya's urgent face, and quickly making up her mind, shoved the pill into her mouth while mumbling jumbled words to his as she raced in front of him ,"If I barf, your to pay!" Which in fact turned out to sound more along the lines of, "If Im barh, yuf to pay!"

Hitsugaya nodded as if he understood every word with a crystal clarity.

"Let's just hurry, alright?"

"Hurry? I'm ahead of you!" She darted past him and sped to Unohana's office with him directly on her heels; he wouldn't ever say it, but Hitsugaya had decided to let her take the lead for once.

O-x-x-x-x-O

He continued with normal procedure form there, check every corner, never enter a room without his permission first, make sure everything was clear. Brooding over his last inspection Hitsugaya finally let Karin, who by force shoved her own way in, and left her to talk with her as he waited patiently in an outside waiting room. Leaning against the wall and pretending -hoping- that whatever news she was giving Karin wasn't any that would make his life even more complicated Hitsugaya fidgeted with his fingers in a mind distraction.

Hearing only murmurs through the door he felt himself subconsciously leaning his ear closer and closer, and once he became aware, adjusting it for a better hear. If he was going to listen, he might as well do it properly.

"Well, what this time?" Karin demanded, cutting to the very point.

"There has been some slight development in your situation. Although before I should continue any further, I want to inform you it doesn't that it is't healthy for you to keep having problems I keep hearing you've been having? With your zanpakutou, who's name is…?"

"Shirohouou."

"Shirohouou. Lovely name. It means 'white phoenix' right?" Karin nodded in confirmation, only mildly paying attention to side details. "Hm. Anyway, I'll be giving you some new pills that you should use in rotation with the ones I've already given you. Take one type every other day." Unohana outstretched the bottle she had been holding throughout the conversation to Karin.

Grasping the new container in her hand Karin noticed that she was still holding the other in her hand as well. Shoving the newer one into her pocket, Karin realized that there just wouldn't be enough space and that she'd have to carry the previously assigned one.

Shifting uncomfortably from one foot to another Karin tried to nonchalantly bring up the topic constantly pressing her thoughts, "So…? Any news about my memories?"

Unohana smiled gently and directed Karin to the door, "I'm afraid it's going to take some more time than that. It's a delicate process, you'll have to be patient."

Karin grunted to signify that that was obviously not the answer she had in mind as she proceeded to walk back to the door.

"Oh, and Karin? Please send Hitsugaya in, I need to talk to him privately." Karin nodded in agreement and, turning the handle and pulling the door wide open, stuck her head out and gestured inside, "Hey, she wants to talk to you." Hitsugaya pushed off against the wall and walked inside, nudging Karin on the way to go back in, "Nah, she want's to talk to you, privately."

Hitusaya shrugged and before walking all the way in turned around and gave Karin her always reminder, "The doors sealed to you, so just please don't break anything this time." Karin rolled her eyes and walked around the office, pretending to be interested on the pictures on the wall, "Don't worry, I'm not gonna run again."

Shutting the door fully closed Hitsugaya exited her view, but not without giving her a disbelieving look before he left. Karin mulled around the waiting room, taking in all the little features. Too preoccupied in her thoughts she didn't even notice someone walk through the door.

"Hey!" Karin peered out of the side of her eyes to see a strange visitor with flaming red hair and black robes a match to her own stumble through the door.

"Hm?"

"I've never seen you before. You new?"

Karin was confused at first until she realized that being the only person in the room, he had to be referring to her. Glancing at the door where right behind it were Hitsugaya and Unohana, Karin decided that it would probably be best if she just went along with it.

Wouldn't want to disappoint them now would we?

Karin grinned and replied, "Yeah, just came. I think it was a week ago."

"Cool. So, what department you in?"

Unable to remember whatever the division was that Hitsugaya ran, Karin thought on her feet and went by the only thing she knew. Deception really is only the truth with minor mutations. "I work with the holding facilities. I got hired on the day of the prisoner escape, there was more than one that went missing. It's my job to round them up and bring them back." Oh, the delicious irony.

"Yeah, whoever it was really tore up that building didn't they?" Karin was tempted to boast at the stunning magnitude of her work, but concluded that that would most likely be the worst way, so instead settled with a seeping tone of smugness. "It was kind of impressive, wasn't it?"

Renji scratched his head and grinned, "You could say that."

Karin was about to reply -with something witty regarding her brilliant escape no doubt- when yet another person entered behind Renji. Karin's eyes grew wide as the tall figure with scorching orange hair and the massive sword walked in.

"Hey Renji what the hell you doing in-"

Ichigo stared.

Karin seethed.

"You."

Renji could only be curious when Ichigo balked, confused when the girl before him laid her hand on her sword and prepared to draw, and had his own zanpakutou drawn when he finally noticed the bone mask of the opposite side of her face.

"Arrancar!"

"Okay, what the hell is going on out here?!" Hitsugaya slid the door out in one quick motion and took only seconds to register what was going on before him and just how badly it all looked.

"Hitsugaya-Taichou! Get her!" Hitsugaya lunged at the same time that Renji and Ichigo did, all three making a move towards the stonily placed Karin. Brandishing her zanpakutou with the same effort, Karin stood her ground and prepared for attack, her main focus not the redhead but the man behind him.

The frantic scramble ended in Ichigo's sword pressed equally against Renji's, his eyes glowering and back to Hitsugaya who was holding Karin's arm with one hand, restraining her movements and sword that he couldn't help but notice the uneasy proximity to his face..

"Renji, don't touch her."

"She's an arrancar! Am I the only one seeing the mask here?!"

Hitsugaya craned his head over his shoulder, and -while keeping a firm grasp on Karin- spoke calmly to Renji, keeping his tone even to show no danger "Lower your sword Abarai, she's not an enemy."

"Not an enemy?! She's a friggin arr-"

"What may I ask, is going on here?"

Every single body in the room froze.

Hitsugaya was the first to dare to look at the dark figure standing in the door way, with everyone slowly following suit; each had the same jaw-dropping, hide-under-the-covers, close-the-closet-door, reaction. Arms folded tightly across her chest and suiting one of the most malevolent smiles Hitsugaya had seen in a very long time, Unohana was clearly not pleased, and in no way entitled to hide such a fact.

Renji, being the only one without even the slightest clue to the situation at hand blurted out, "It's an arrancar! Am I the only one seeing this?!" Ichigo yelled back at equal pitch, "She's not an arrancar!"

"Can you not see the bone mask?!"

"Don't call her-"

"Would you all just shut up?!" Hitsugaya hollered over them, trying in earnest for it to be quiet enough for him to speak to Karin, "Drop your sword Karin; they're not enemies."

Karin glared but began to lower her zanpakutou never the less, only to have it raise it back up in milliseconds as the door reflung open and a girl stepped out from behind Unohana, her own sword placed in her grasp.

"Okay, what is with all the yelling?!"

The blond took a few quick glances around the room, never lowering her sword the whole time. Scanning over the heads of white, brown, black, red and finally orange hair she saw all the expression before quickly landing on the most apparent one, "Ichi-nii? What are you doing to Renji?"

"That what I'd like to know!" Renji blurted.

"Yuzu, what are you doing…" Ichigo stuttered as he looked over to Karin, still suited behind Hitsugaya's protective figure and his tight grasp on her.

Yuzu followed his gaze until it settled upon the small girl behind the white-haired taichou. Her eyes roamed over Karin, taking in every inch, every single detail before they began to brim up with small pools of water.

"K-kar-" Yuzu couldn't finish her sentence. Sheathing her sword she took in once more the scene played before her confused eyes. Ichigo, blocking Renji with a glare and sword; Renji still pressing against his sword with might; Hitsugaya still shielding the angry brunette form the mess; Unohana, one hand on her hips, the other face-palmed and shaking her head in irritation, and finally Karin. Yuzu sighed and turned on her heel, walking back into the room and closing the door behind her, making the only noise to echo through the room.

Unohana spoke as calmly as possible, letting the words seep out her mouth and attempting to contain as much of the venom as idly possible. "Renji, please come with me into my office. There are a few things we now need to discuss. Ichigo-Taichou I suppose it would be wise for you to follow." Ichigo interjected in protest, "But Unohana-"

"Now Kurosaki." Ichigo gulped and lifted his sword off Renjis. "Hitsugaya-Taichou, Karin, now would be a good time to leave."

Hitsugaya slowly released Karin, only now realizing that he had been gripping her so hard there was now a faint red tracing of his fingers on her arm where his hand had once been. She hadn't dropped her angry gaze and she stormed off in front of him, heading full long to the door. Before Renji and Ichigo shuffled out of the room in guilt and shame, Ichigo looked back at an exiting Karin and whispered in a voice only just loud enough for her to hear,

"I've missed you."

Unohana rapped him over the head and shoved him off into the other room, "Tell her everything why not?!" She watched Karin turn around and walked over and snatched the bottle of memory retrieving pills form her hand, "Won't be needing these anymore now will we?!" Before fuming off into her office, fully equipped to give Renji and Ichigo a stern wake up call.

Hitsugaya pushed Karin out into the hall way, "Defiantly time to leave."

"Who were those people?"

"Nothing of your concern."

Karin rounded on him in seconds, clenching her teeth and tacking a offensive stance, "Don't give me that! Who where they?!"

Hitsugaya sighed and pressed forward, ushering her through the halls with urgency to get back tot the safer confines of the office, " They… they're people who knew about your past. Alright? Satisfied?"

"They used to know me?!" She turned and attempted to run back to the office before he blocked her with an outstretched arm, "No Karin."

"Augh! Why do you always speak to me like I'm a child? I understand direct commands, we've established that thank you very much!"

"Than what about last night?"

"It was important!"

"Karin just-" Hitsugaya in took a deep breath and talked calmly, "Please. Not now."

"But-"

"Unohana has things to deal with now. We have to inform the Soutaichou what just happened and see what repercussions it might have on you. A very large mess is laid before us now, and this is not the time."

Karin lowered her head, just be a good girl. Then you'll get what you want. "Alright." In an attempt to lighten the mood she added with a small chuckle, "So, Matsumoto been drinking any more of that, what was it called again? Sake?"

Hitsugaya could tell she was trying, so he pushed back pride for once and just went with the conversation, "No, she usually shows restraint until around the evening."

Karin laughed, "Why won't you let me try that stuff anyway? I could probably take it."

"I'm not taking any chances."

"I've taken worse I bet." Hitsugaya glanced at Karin as she continued to walk through the halls he head held a little higher than it had been yesterday, he footsteps not quite pounding the ground as they had been simply days before.

She seemed less, chained.

"Nevertheless-" Kairn cut him off with the remainder of his words, her voice ringing through the air with almost a tinge of laughter that floated unlike her words had used to.

"I won't be giving you any. I know I know." Hitsugaya smirked and opened the door, leading her in before of him,

"It seems figuring me out isn't as hard as it used to be."

"It was ever hard?"

"Well apparently not anymore." Karin plopped down onto the couch and rested her head on her hands, letting her chestnut hair drape onto her back.

"So what else do we have planned?" Hitsugaya grimaced, "Unfortunately today doesn't seem like it'll be any more exciting that it was yesterday. I guess you can just try and communicate with Shirohouou for a while, I've defiantly got paperwork to keep be busy."

"Kay."

Karin let her eyes wander over him as he sat down and pulled himself to the desk, instantly disappearing behind mountains of flowing stacks of paper. She heard him scribble down words avidly, as she unsheathed her zanpakutou and laid it before her, letting the messy clicking of the pen as he flew it across the paper calm her down and let her retreat into her mind.

Karin leaned into the confines as she always had done when searching for her zanpakutou spirit to come and share a conversation with her. But, same as before she was answered with a close to nothing hush of silence. Typical though. If this was just Shirohouou being her angry, Karin was not underestimating the zanpakutous extreme capacity of holding a grudge. The "silent treatment" so to speak. Back in Hueco Mundo Karin had relied on her so much for a sense of simply being there that she had swallowed her pride to the extreme of grovelling.

Kuroskai Karin did not grovel.

Ever.

She heaved a sigh and retracted her thoughts, finally deciding that if nothing was going to happen -because she utterly refused to resort to flat out begging-she might as well spending her time doing something productive, like sleeping.

Was she ever tired.

Than again, Karin found it hard to scower a time in her memories when she hadn't been tired. What exactly was it that always left her so worn out and exhausted?

Bringing her head up she dizzily turned to see Hitsugaya still planted behind his desk, his hair now only slightly viable. That was an improvement from before though, so who was she to judge? She grudging recalled how when talking to your spirit -or at least attempting contact- time went more slowly than what it truly was outside of the minds realm. It was convenient though; in numerous occasions in Hueco Mundo she had simply passed time that way.

In fact time seemed to pass slowly in a repetitive motion often even in the real waking hours of the day.

And that was how they had continued to pass throughout the course of the next few days of her hours spent with Hitsugaya.

O-x-x-x-x-O

Hitsugaya ruffled his hair and pressed his face back down into the sheet of paper he was working on. Things had begun to set into a constant motion and it had made things breathlessly easier to stream through than before Karin's attitude had slowed down to a normal pace. They followed a daily routine –one that Hitsugaya was more than comfortable with, consistency was a steady building block that made the 24 hour days breeze by; all except for those moments between the two where Karin would ask him a few questions he knew he wasn't supposed to answer. She would become a little too curious, pry a little too deep into bandaged information, and to Hitsugaya extreme displeasure, never take "I'm not allowed to tell you" as a valid answer or excuse. Some days it got so hard, he would simply walk away form her, far too unable to turn down such sad-set features and stare into such piercing grey eyes without bowing down to her determination.

And yet, one day, one perfect placement of events, one act of disobedience was all it took for him to break under the pressure and cut a few hanging strings.

To be honest, it was an anomaly that he survived under her strain for so long when the time came for him to decide between a make-or-break in her memory retrieval.

O-x-x-x-x-O

Karin stretched her arms up yawned loudly, arching her back and earning a chuckle form Matsumoto who had -to everyone's immense and indescribable shock- had decided to pick up a pen that day and slyly work her way through a couple of stacks.

"You look like a cat."

It was really more a statement of fact than a comment on her habits Karin had decided. Because, coming from someone with a cat-like zanpakutou, Karin believed Matsumoto had no right to call her a cat. Because, no matter how much Hitsugaya had pleaded her to not- Karin could still hear. It wasn't as if rumours where a difficult thing to pick up on, especially when your stationed right beside the woman responsible for the majority of every slice of gossip that snuck into the confines of everyone's minds and thoughts. So when the supposed rumour of Matsumoto's undeniable cat-like behaviour after a particularly excessive amount of sake the night before, it took until the first time she stepped foot into the office to overhear someone's unignorable loud conversation.

Honestly, it really wasn't her fault.

It was disappointing how, when she explained this to Hitsugaya, he merely sighed and carried on mumbling something about useless fukataichous as if it was no new news to him. Karin pouted at his lack of interest in anything she seemed to say lately, and wondered how on earth -or wherever Soul Society really was located- it was fair that he had the ability to tune her out when almost every movement he had made these past couple of days had done nothing but intrigued her.

Too held up in her issues against him Karin didn't even notice the knock on the door before the whole party had come full-out into the room. Striding in with almost an air of pride and reretrived dignity, Ichigo, Yuzu, and trailing behind them in an out-of-place fashion, Renji and Rukia.

Hitsugaya jumped in a flash, and in less than milliseconds was standing by Karin; Matsumoto on the other hand, kept up the fortress and lazed happily on her chair all the while barely paying mind to the new arrivals.

"Eh? Oh, hey! What're you guys doing here?"

Hitsugaya didn't weaver his eyes from them, "Yes, do explain."

Yuzu stepped in front of Ichigo -herself being the one with the largest calm influence- and declared without even the slightest fidgit in her tone, "Were here for Karin."

"Are you insane?"

Yuzu rolled balls of her feet, "No, I'm pretty sure I'm not. Maybe they are, but I think I'm relatively sane."

Karin shifted awkwardly behind Hitsugaya and shoved her way out from behind him, "Who are you?"

Yuzu walked forward -despite Hitsugaya's raising background protests- and extended her hand and a warm smile, "I'm Yuzu Kurosaki."

Karin looked at her hand strangely before replying with a small shake, "Yuzu huh? And ugh, mind telling me who the heck's behind you?" Karin pointed a finger at Ichigo, "Cuz' I keep running into that jerk."

Rangiku was watching out of her periphery vision and couldn't help but chuckle, "Oh Karin, Karin, Karin, you make my day and half the time you don't even know it."

"What?"

Ichigo pressed one hand to his chest and broke the words that he had wanted to say for so long into the tension racked air, "Karin, I'm not your enemy! I'm your-"

Hitsugaya wasn't about to permit Ichigo's mouth to ruin everything, "On what grounds, Kurosaki, do you have to say that?!"

"Whadd'ya mean what grounds?! I'm her-"

"Would you just shut-up! Did Soutaichou give you permission to expose information to her?"

Yuzu retook charge of the situation, "No, he didn't. Hitsugaya-Taichou were here to take Karin."

Matsumoto sprung at the sentence, jumping onto Karin's unsuspecting figure at the slightest proposal of something more fun and wrapping her arms around her, "Finally! Where to?"

Ichigo responded with equal vigour, something was finally running his way. "Well we were kind of hoping to let her visit Karakura…"

Rukia interlaced her words with the end of his sentence, never missing a beat. "Right now."

Matsumoto squeezed tighter on Karin who was still continuously wriggling to try and free herself to an arms length, or at least a length where she could breathe, all the oblivious eyes of everyone in the room that couldn't notice the alarming blue-like colour of her face. Rangiku pounded the air with a fist, "Let's go shopping!"

Yuzu timidly raised a finger to Matsumoto, "Well that's not exactly what we were thinking of…"

But none of her words even made a dent that is Matsumoto Rangiku's shopping honed brain.

"Clothes! Shoes! Hair! Oh Karin you'll love it!"

Karin was at a lack of response as she was currently turning a more violent hue of colours far from a healthy shade. Matsumoto had obviously done this before, and it was only a glaring obvious fact as this had now -by Karin's tally- been the fourth time since meeting her. First when the woman was too far beyond a state of conscious mind from drinking that she had misidentified her with Hitsugaya, two times within the week where she had done it for the heck of draining all colour from her face, and now.

It was a habit not only dangerous to Karin, but as she had found out from the third incident, but to everyone within a ten-meter radius.

Karin's answer to any question regarding the particular incident would be a "Don't wanna talk about it." Hitsugaya's on the other hand, just went straight into the classified folder along with Mastumoto's "girl's night out" which had a cabinet solely to itself.

Although, with all this happening simultaneously, everyone was far too concerned with the conversation at hand, but eventually at least one person had the intelligent idea to have Karin's idea input. "Hey, Karin, waddya you think -oi! Matsumoto, put her down!"

Rangiku glanced down at Karin and pouted, "But she's got at least two shades of blue to go before it gets serious, then I'll let her go."

"And how exactly do you know?"

Matsumoto had a quizzicle plastered to her mock-innocent features and blue doe-eyes. "What? You guys think I don't have experience with Taichou?"

Karin was the only one who took it the wrong way.

"Mpph!" She shoved her face out form being plugged behind Matsumoto's arm, "You what?!"

A cry brought to none of particular interest the conversation simply continued to derailment with Hitsugaya quickly losing the argument.

"So it's settled then right? We'll do what it takes to get her memory back ourselves!"

Hitsugaya rose up and snatched Karin away from Matsumoto, unknowingly pulling her into his chest. "I never said that!"

Ichigo leaned close to his face and grinned, "Too bad shorty, they're more of us than you."

"Kurosaki." Ichigo tried his best to avoid Hitsugaya's angry persona and think only of his sister who was still trying to place the pieces of the last couple of minuets into some sense. "Yeah?"

He was promptly thrown to the other side of the room on the back swing of Hitsugaya's closed fist, "I'm still taller."

By this point Karin had had her fill of being whipped around like a doll and did what she knew she was still allowed to do, push away. Pressing her hands against Hitsugaya's chest and pushing back so she was finally standing on her own she proudly and with a much dignity as she could muster in her frazzled appearance, went over and stood beside Yuzu.

"I'm going."

"Karin…"

"No! Say one more thing and I don't care about this damn collar, I'll punch you through the wall!"

Hitsugaya had an injured pride and ego as she stared him down with her hard eyes, and with a soothing reminder that regardless of what she remembered she was still a Kurosaki and it was only in her nature to oppose whoever had the guts to turn her down, finally nodded. Matsumoto and Renji high-fived each other with vigour and Yuzu cheered as Ichigo, well Ichigo was still plastered to the wall he had been knocked against tending to some bruises, but would most likely be whopping louder than the rest had he been paying attention to anything other than rubbing his head.

"I'm surprised I haven't already lost my job…"

O-x-x-x-x-O

Karin stuffed her hands into her pockets, overrun with worry. What if they took her to place she didn't want to go to? What if there were things in that place that she would have wanted to forget? What if there was a reason to why she had no memory except of Hueco Mundo? What if, what if, what if…?

Slinging her head down and squeezing her eyes shut Karin wished more than anything that Shirohouou could be standing beside her right now. She would know what to do. She always had an assertive persona and could line up the facts straighter than any cord. All she was asking for was some simple guidance.

Karin shifted on her feet and put up a strong face when she saw Hitsugaya come into the room, without his haori. At first it came as a puzzle, Karin couldn't ecactly quite pin what was wrong with this picture, when she got it how mouth dropped.

"Ugh," She said, pointing bluntly at his attire, or lack of, "You know your missing something right?"

"I don't want to attract attention."

"You don't want to attract attention?"

"Yes, I just said that."

"Well maybe you should ditch the white hair, status, and not be beside other well-known shinigami and an arrancar."

Hitsugaya considered this for a moment before disappearing into his room and returing with haori in hand.

"Let's just go."

Karin nodded and did a mock-salute she had learned after reading books Rukia had abundantly supplied her with.

"Aye aye Captain."


A/N: Psh. I wrote everything at the top. All that's left is: REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! (you review I get inspiration, I get inspiration chappies come out faster!) Read Fairy Tail! And ugh, read Fairy Tail!

Come on people you know you want to press that lovely little green button down there. :)