And I'm back and only for a short time. Sorry. My father is taking away my computer for a while (3 weeks) so I can't write. Still I think the poll in my profile is not finished yet since it's tie between this story and Cherry Blossom, Lily and Forget-Me-Not so please vote.

Disclaimer: I Don't Own Bleach, Naruto or Inuyasha

Chapter 9: The time to explain

Melanie and Karin met Sakura before they all entered the room where everyone lese were waiting for them. Karin noticed how the blushing Rukia was glaring at her brother who was soaking and who didn't look very happy. Next to Rukia was Kagome giggling and trying to hide it since Rukia could get quite angry if anyone laughed at her. Karin sighed; her brother hadn't clearly learned that yet. She wondered how long it would take him. Hopefully it would be soon since it was really getting on her nerves to see him looking so down because of their fighting. As she glanced once again between her brother, Rukia and Kagome made her to believe that Rukia and Ichigo had fought once again. It was quite amusing to see little Rukia and scowling Ichigo glaring at each other while they were saying every insult they knew, which was a lot. Karin swore that she had once even heard Rukia curse in Swedish which had been a quite surprise to Ichigo since he had never known that Rukia had visited Sweden. Karin doubted that her brother even knew where Sweden was. Sure her brother did better than Rukia in the school but it was because Rukia could care less about her education. As she watched them glaring at each Karin smirked since she remembered someone else who could make Rukia lose her cool but he was long gone. Karin didn't notice that she was crying before Toushiro glanced at her worriedly. She quickly whipped the tears away and put her mask back on. She cursed slightly in her mind for letting her guard down and didn't notice how her reiatsu was flaring secretly so no one in the room would notice it. Suddenly she saw how Melanie was looking at her like she was doing something crazy and when she glanced at Sakura Karin noticed that she was shaking her head in disbelief. Karin glanced down at her hands and saw a sword which was very beautiful. Its blade was red and it sparkled and its hilt was black. She almost dropped it but quickly caught it and hid it behind her back. She went next to Melanie and Sakura and leaned against the wall and sighed as she saw the looks on the taichous faces. They were all serious and looked like they were in someone's funerals. Karin quietly chuckled at the thought but all the taichous glared at her for disturbing the peace. Karin frowned as she looked around everyone was here and still they were all just standing as if waiting for some kind of signal. Next to her Sakura muttered something about being bored and Karin nodded in agreement; this was going to be a long day.

'''''''

Toushiro frowned slightly as he saw Karin leaning against the wall. He got the feeling that she was keeping something from him. His fists clenched as he felt his anger take control. Sure he had only known Karin for a while during his mission in Karakura but during that time he had saved her life and he had no intention of letting her get hurt. He had seen her once hurt and he hadn't liked it at all. He saw Karin sifting uncomfortably under his stare and smirked; so he had some power over her. Maybe it wouldn't be so hard to make her listen to him. Toushiro turned to Yamamoto when he started to speak but still he kept a tab on Karin. He noticed how she avoided her brother and how she made sure that she could runaway. Even though he knew that Karin was fast and strong he knew that she wasn't used to Soul Society yet and that was why he wasn't worried about her running away. Still without noticing it he moved closer to the door and blocked it. He caught Ichigo's eye and nodded; he could take care of Karin for a while when Ichigo worried about Rukia.

"Today we'll hear why these lovely ladies are here and who they truly are. I wish that all of you will listen carefully since there might some new information for you too, so don't think that you know everything about these girls, I'm sure that all of you will be surprised. And please do not interrupt them since I've seen few excellent soldiers getting their ass kicked by them after interrupting them."

Toushiro didn't like the way Yamamoto's eyes shifted from him to Ichigo, Inuyasha and Sasuke who had also stiffened because of Yamamoto's words. It was like the eldest taichou knew something knew something that they didn't, which wasn't really surprising but it sure was as hell annoying. Toushiro didn't like the fact that he didn't know something which involved people who he cared about or knew and now he couldn't plan his next move.

"I'm sure that it would be the best if Rukia would come up here first and tell us who the girls are. Then if you, Kagome, would be so kind and continue by explaining your plan that you talked about earlier." Toushiro noticed how the man's words made Melanie, Karin and Sakura frown.

'''

Rukia walked to Yamamoto but shot a last cold glare towards Ichigo's direction while he pretended to look somewhere else. She frowned slightly but then let it go. Soon she would have Ichigo's undivided attention.

"Even though I'm sure that all of you, my name is Rukia and I was adopted by the Kuchiki family when I was a teenager. When I first came to Soul Society, I was with my older sister who took care of me until it became too much of a burden for her and she abandoned me. She made sure that I wouldn't die in few days and left. Later she married a man called Byakuya Kuchiki and lived happily with him. Unfortunately she became really sick and died later after telling Byakuya about me. But anyway I survived and learned how to live in the streets. Then one day I met Renji, who-"

"Ruki!! That's like your whole life story. Push the forward button and hurry to the part when you met us!!" yelled Sakura who got Karin roll her eyes, Kagome hit her in the head and Melanie smile slightly. Only Sakura could be so impolite and interrupt someone's story. Rukia, however, knew that Sakura didn't like hearing about past and the fact that she wasn't allowed to speak made her angrier.

"Since Sakura asked, I'll go straight to the night when we met. I was walking in a strange area since it was my only way home. I walked carefully and suddenly, before I knew it, I was pulled down by something and my vision went black. When I woke up I saw Melanie and Sakura sitting next to me. They looked sad and Sakura had tears in her eyes. They thought that I was dead and when I opened my eyes Melanie screamed. Soon Kagome came running and introduced herself and Melanie and Sakura. However, quickly after Kagome's arrival a group of men came and dragged us to some cave. All that time Melanie was complaining and saying that she would tell about them to her uncle and Sakura was sniffling while Kagome tried to comfort her. After the men had left and they had calmed down they explained to me what was going on. I soon learned to live with them and after few months we found out that they were going to get a new girl. We did our research and looked for the girl who turned out to be Karin. We explained the situation to her and tried to make her hide but she wanted to come with us. So we went back to our home and few days later the men brought Karin. She hasn't yet regretted her decision. Years went by and we finally ran away. To keep the men from finding us we separated and now when have been united once again." Rukia stopped and looked at Ichigo and saw that he was in shock. Then she got down and before Ichigo noticed it she was beside her best friends smiling slightly. It felt good to get it out of her chest.

''

Ichigo was in shock but he noticed how Rukia went past him without looking at him and it hurt. But not as much it hurt to realise that she had gone through so much and something so terrifying without him by her side. It wasn't like Ichigo wanted Rukia to get hurt, that was something that he did everything to prevent, but if she happened to hurt herself he preferred it to be near him when he could be sure that nothing happened to her. He knew that Rukia was an excellent fighter and could take care of herself but sometimes that just wasn't enough.

Then his eyes drifted to his little sister. Karin was standing straight and looking composed but he could see that Rukia's story had affected to her and she was trying her best to hide it. He knew better than doubt Rukia but he really didn't understand what she meant by saying that Karin had left her family and even for years. Maybe Ichigo wasn't the most observant person in the world but even he would have noticed if his little sister disappeared. Karin had always been with them. Suddenly a realization came to him like lightening; Karin maybe hadn't been gone away from her family but there had been one time when her nature and hobbies changed completely. She had painted her room black, thrown away all of her stuff, started playing soccer and hang around with boys instead of girls. It wasn't very much and Ichigo had only thought that she was growing up but clearly he had been wrong. Now when he knew the truth he felt little betrayed; why hadn't she told him? He would have understood and helped her… Okay maybe he wouldn't have but it wasn't really fair for him to hear about this only now.

Ichigo couldn't help but look at the other girls as well. It was hard to believe that they were the same people that Rukia told them about. That Sakura girl didn't look like someone who would cry all the time even though he could see that she cared about strangers as well. Melanie certainly didn't seem like a girl to complain and cry but he had seen how she got easily annoyed by Karin and Sakura. Kagome was probably the only one who he could recognize from the story since she took care of them before. Ichigo closed his eyes and swore that he would protect his little sister and Rukia and he would be damned if he let them get hurt like that again.

''''

Kagome gave Rukia a reassuring smile before walking to Yamamoto and starting her speech. Before starting her speech she made sure that everyone had their attention on her. When she noticed that everyone was looking at her she started:

"Okay. My name is Kagome. So now you've heard our story from Rukia and I have a request for you. Don't treat us any differently. We are who we are and it doesn't change even though you find out some new information about us. We are still the same people that you know but now you know something more about us. But I didn't come up here to make a speech about us. My duty is to tell you about our plan which didn't work exactly like we wanted it to. Anyway you all have to remember that all of us lived in different dimensions so it was really hard for us to keep contact with each others. One day Karin got a brilliant idea which is really rare-"

"HEY!! I so can make plans." yelled Karin while Sakura and Rukia rolled their eyes and Melanie smiled.

"Whatever. She bought us all telephones and they worked. That was the first time we saw Mel looking like she saw a ghost. Moving on. When Rukia lost the jewel to Aizen (At this point everyone were wondering why Kagome called that thing a jewel.) we were informed immediately and Melanie and Sakura, who are both the brains in our group, started forming a plan and in few days we had a plan. Our original plan, which is now ruined because Yamamoto noticed us, was to come to Soul Society without anyone noticing us. Our next step was to go to Hueco Mundo-"

"THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL THAT MY LITTLE SISTER WILL GO TO THAT AWFUL PLACE!!" Ichigo yelled and Toushiro nodded his head behind his back. Rukia rolled her eyes and hit Ichigo to head while Karin was held back by Sakura. Melanie just gave Kagome a sign to continue while she disappeared to somewhere.

"But after Sakura, Melanie and Karin came from Hueco Mundo-"

"WHAT?!" Ichigo yelling was stopped by Rukia who put her hand in front of Ichigo's mouth.

"-and told us that the jewel was well guarded. Then we had to change our plans and I'm not telling you anything about them since they have nothing to do with you. This is our job, our mission and none of you will get involved in this." Kagome got down and everyone started yelling when they heard that the girls wouldn't have any help.

'''''''

Inuyasha ignored Kikyo's hand that was on his chest and listened carefully what Kagome had to say. He had never been interested in planning things ahead and his "plan" was often to attack and think later which led to many problems and scolding from Kagome. Now Inuyasha understood why Kagome planned things ahead. It was because she was used to it. Clearly these five girls planned each of their moves carefully and made sure that nothing could go wrong and if something went wrong they had a plan B. The girls acted like the whole world would be destroyed if they made even a tiny mistake. The girls made tiny mistakes and he made huge mistakes so it was no wonder Kagome was sometimes very near in killing Inuyasha if he did something stupid or/and wrong. The worst cases were if Shippo or Sango or sometimes Miroku got hurt because of his actions. Who needed conscience when you had Kagome making you feel bad about everything?

However this side of Kagome was new to all of them. Kagome had always been sweet, seen good in everyone and she had hated violence. She was never out of her calm façade except when she was furious with Inuyasha and now she was so passionate about their plan and actions. He saw how the façade she kept slipped away and how her eyes started to sparkle with excitement when she spoke about their discussions and plans. He didn't notice how a small smile came to his lips when he saw her speaking but soon the happy moment was ruined when she said that the girls didn't need their help and looked straight into his eyes. He felt his heart shattering inside when he realized that he wouldn't be there to protect her as she went to her most dangerous journey ever.

When Kagome went past him he noticed the fear and uncertainty in her eyes. He realized that even though the girls appeared to be strong and happy they also had their fears. And Kagome's biggest fear was that she wouldn't see her family again. But still she did this because she knew that her friends would do the same for her in a second. The girls were close and it could be seen when Kagome returned to them they moved closer to her and Rukia touched her cheek. What Inuyasha didn't notice was a tear whipped away and a murderous glare directed to his direction by Karin. Kagome glanced at him and then took off and ran away.

'''

Karin removed her glare from Inuyasha and turned to leave the room when Sakura step on her foot and glared at her. Karin raised her eyebrow and Sakura nodded towards the sword in her hands. Karin swore and muttered to Sakura:

"Can you hide it?" Sakura looked at her like she was some freak and nodded:

"Of course. Seriously Karin you really should learn some genjutsus."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Sakura shook her head and muttered the jutsu. Then she nodded to Karin and they left to follow Rukia and Kagome while ignoring the stares on their backs. Karin turned to look behind her and suddenly she collided with something hard. She raised her head and looked straight into Toushiro's eyes. Toushiro smirked slightly and leaned to her ear and whispered:

"I don't like secrets, Kurosaki, so you better not keep something from me." He leaned back and disappeared leaving startled Karin and giggling Sakura behind. Karin sighed; the sword was going to make some damages to their new plan and that meant a very angry Melanie. This wasn't going to be pretty.