Bleach Family Ties
Chapter Ten
By Cindra
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach and this story is just for fun.
A/N: I typed this during the early morning hours so it might be a little rough around the edges typo wise.
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Elsewhere hours before back on Earth…
Karin was taking out her frustration by kicking around a soccer ball on the soccer field. "He's gotta be okay! He can handle anything…" She grumbled to herself as she drilled the ball at the net that Jinta was trying to guard as goalie.
Hitsugaya had changed into his gigai and was content to watch over her from the sidelines of the field. She had been at this for the better part of two hours and though he really didn't like Jinta he was beginning to feel sorry for the amount of abuse that Karin was barreling at him with every kick of the ball. She was on her fifth soccer ball and this one wasn't fairing any better than the other four had. It irked him to no measure that something continued to pull at him to comfort the distraught girl before him. She was just a kid not only that but she was of the imperial line making her by Soul Society law untouchable to mere commoners. Captain or not…Prodigy or not she was beyond his reach.
Nevertheless he couldn't take seeing her hurting like this and finally gave into his instincts to try and soothe her frazzled emotions somehow. "Ichigo can take care of himself, so there is no need for you to continue on with this childish tantrum of yours." He said coolly.
Karin narrowed shocking cerulean blue eyes at him. "Who asked you anyway? He's my brother! I'll worry about him if I want to!" She snarled at him.
"It doesn't do any good to worry about something that you have no ability to control." Tōshirō stepped out on to the field.
"Duh! She's a girl. Girls worry about everything." Jinta rolled his eyes at the clueless Captain, as he kicked the ball back into play.
"Gender matters not. It's a waste of energy and gets one nowhere." Tōshirō easily intercepted the ball then proceeded to block any and all attempts that Karin made to get it back.
"Give it back!" Karin gritted her teeth in frustration. It was no use the Captain was better than she was at soccer.
"No. Now focus and take it back yourself." Tōshirō challenged back.
Jinta knew when he was being a third wheel and wasn't about to stand around and watch the two of them circle each other. He was tired, ached like hell, and wasn't in the mood to be a target anymore. "I'm outta here! It's obvious that the two of you wanna be alone!" He left the field stalking off in disgust.
"You're gonna pay for that latter, Jinta!" Karin shouted after him. The nerve of that brat! She couldn't stand this arrogant Captain of Ice and for him to insinuate otherwise was just wrong!
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"Ignore him and focus on getting your ball back." Tōshirō ordered softly. His sea-green eyes sparkled with challenge. "That's if you can."
"Why won't you just go away?"
"Like it or not being a direct descendent of the imperial line makes you a princess, as well as a target."
"I can take care of myself!"
"There is no shame in admitting that you need help. It shows character."
"Look! I've got a lot to deal with, not that some genius child prodigy like you would ever understand!" Karin snarled at him in frustration, digging her fingers into the grass when her attempt to trip him up ended up with her landing on her butt. "I'll bet you've had it easy all your life, Mister Big Shot Captain Ice!"
Tōshirō sighed heavily not wishing to go down that particular memory lane. "You couldn't be further from the truth. I was born in Junrin'an a providence in the First District of West Rukongai, not unlike you're Karakura Town, and left in the care of my Grandmother. I've never met my parents nor do I wish to ever meet them. My Granny was all I needed even though I was a handful. To say that I was a brat is putting it mildly. I was born with so much power that it scared everyone away from me, everyone that was except for Momo Hinamori. I kept to myself mostly because my inner power was always like an untamed animal trying to claw its way free. Momo was all for joining the Shinigami academy, but to me that was all a big waste of time. That however didn't stop Hyōrinmaru from coming to the surface making me a danger to all of those around me. Granny was getting older and frail and Momo seemed to have forgotten all about me." He paused raking his fingers through his spiky snow white hair an amused smirk on his face at the thought of who had turned his life upside-down and then given him a goal to go after. "I met Rangiku Matsumoto …"
Karin couldn't help but smirk, thinking of her brother's description of that particular Soul Reaper. She and Orihime looked like they could be mother and daughter or relation at least. "Boobs that defied gravity with a wicked since of humor, yet not someone that you'd want to underestimate." She murmured softly.
Tōshirō arched a brow at her in surprise, "You got all of that from one brief meeting with my Lieutenant?"
"Yeah, it's no big deal..." Karin shrugged. "I'm kinda good at figuring people out. Sorry that I interrupted please continue it was just getting interesting."
Tōshirō sensed that she was hiding something, but then decided that he could figure that puzzle out later. "Rangiku badgered me into entering the academy. She knew that I was a ticking time bomb…I'd nearly killed the woman who'd raised me because of my lack of control and I was constantly leaking out reiatsu, what we call spiritual pressure. Hyōrinmaru has always been a part of me and was impatient to be free again. He haunted my dreams. Hyōrinmaru's the spirit of my Zanpakutō. He's what can only be described as a gigantic icy blue serpentine dragon and is the strongest ice element Zanpakutō in all of the Soul Society." He said with pride.
"Well, that more than fits you seeing as your name does mean 'son of the heavenly lion' and that could also be a dragon…" He arched a brow at her and she grinned patting the spot beside her. "Sorry…"
"My best friend was already a soul reaper and I didn't want to endanger my Granny or anyone else so I joined the Academy." He sat down beside her leaning back on his elbows. "Not that it was much of a challenge. I graduated from there in one year and then became the youngest Captain in the history of the Gotei 13 protection squads."
"Well, officially maybe but you have to admit that my big brother trumps you in that category. After all, one has to be able to perform Bankai in order to become a Captain and my brother did that in less than three days." Karin couldn't help but rub that bit in.
Again Tōshirō shot her with an intense searching look. "I didn't think that Ichigo was one to confide his war stories to his younger siblings. No he's much too protective over you to do that. So what I wish to know is how you are so versed in the goings on of the Soul Society."
"Oh, I have my ways." Karin pulled her knees up to her chest wrapping her arms around her legs. "I guess when it gets down too it that a person doesn't have a choice. Power chooses you the minute you're born and what you want doesn't matter. It claws at you until you admit that its there." She sighed heavily as if the weight of the world was on her young shoulders. "Big brother embraces it all, but to me its just one big migraine."
Tōshirō's shocking green eyes met her own. The two of them weren't all that different and that very fact disturbed him, well, that and he wanted to protect her. It was a feeling that was much stronger than what he felt about Momo. "You can't run from fate, but you can choose to turn what has been given to you into something positive and useful in your day to day life."
She could see the ancient wisdom and power in his seriously amazing sea-green eyes and couldn't even imagine the steps that he had to take just to keep it all in check. Yet he really listened to her and that warmed something inside her making her want to smile.
She tilted her head so that she could really take in the profile of his face. He looked more regal than she did. There was this air of you will respect me or else around him. It should have annoyed her beyond measure, but there was just something about him that made her want to befriend him. She tossed that aside and as it was her turn to spill what was bothering her took a deep breath and confided to him. "Spirits who stalk tend to be really annoying and I just don't have the patience that big brother has with them."
"Ichigo is a rare one alright. Wise as time, but then naïve as an innocent babe…But you…" He scowled irritated by the interruption of the ringing of his cell phone.
"Maybe it's about big brother."
"Perhaps," He took it out of his jacket pocket and answered it. "Rangiku, give me a status report."
Karin watched entranced how he went from wise concerned friend to Captain in a matter of seconds.
He listened intently for several minutes, his eyes narrowing to slits at what was being said. "This is none of Ichimaru's business…I don't care, Rangiku. Our priority is to find Ichigo and the others and then focus on apprehending Captian Kurotsuchi…" He scowled getting up to pace the grass. "Did you say Soul Stealer Gem fragments…Sounds like Kurotsuchi is up to his old tricks again…No! Absolutely not! He stays clear of this! Information or not he's on probation… I don't forgive or forget as easily as the rest of you have! He's got his own agenda, always has and any assistance from him comes with a hefty price! Yeah, well, in your case, Rangiku, love is obviously blind…Tell your husband once a snake always a snake!" He quickly whipped the phone away from his ear, as she proceeded to flame him with her words across the two dimensions. Not wishing to hear anymore he tossed the phone down by his feet.
"Crazy father or not, if I'd have done that I'd have been grounded for a week." Karin arched a brow at him then spoke what was brewing in her mind. "Man and I thought my family was complex. Yours is way more than mine ever has been, I guess you can't really raise a kid properly and still be a Soul Reaper…"
Tōshirō's eyes blazed with fury. "Karin! She is not my mother and Gin Ichimaru is most certainly not my father! Rangiku is my Lieutenant and Ichimaru is the devil himself!"
"Snake comes to mind, but then again he was under the influence of that Aizen creep's Zanpakutō…" Karin ignored his dumbfounded slack jawed look as she got to her feet and retrieved the cell phone.
"Hello. He'll call you back." She smirked when her ear was subjected to a flurry of demanding words, as Rangiku became all protective of her own. "Sorry…He can't talk to you, cuz he's too busy lecturing me. Well, more like glowering at me right now…" Her brows raised as she listened to her response. "Oh really, well, seeing as my big brother is Ichigo, my dad is Shin-ichi, my uncle Amagai, and oh yeah…My Gramps is Yamamoto that would be your Commander and Chief…Your threats mean nothing to me…Hello…Hello…" She frowned down at the phone and then tossed it back to Tōshirō. "She hung up."
Tōshirō plopped back down onto the grass burying his face in his hands. "Why did you have to do that? She has the biggest mouth in the Sereitei. She'll have given everyone the news that our substitute shinigami is in fact the Crowned Prince and that High King Shin-ichi is residing here in Karakura Town. This is most distressing, because if your brother is in the Sereitei he'll most likely receive the hell-butterfly as well…then there very well could be hell to pay."
"It's not news to him, Tōshirō. He's had nearly a month to get used to it." Karin suddenly felt an increase in spiritual pressure and that had her looking all around them. "We're not alone." She hissed at him.
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Tōshirō became instantly alert. "No we are not. The signature is vizard in origin…"
"Big brother's war journals say loads about all of them." She blurted out and he shot her with another one of his searching looks. "Especially of Hiyori Sarugaki…though none of it is worth repeating…She really worked him over during his training to rein in Hichigo." She spied a girl floating upside down just above the goal. "She looks my age just like the drawings in his journal."
"Hey! Spiky!" Hiyori sneered. "Quit robbing the cradle and tell me where Strawberry's at! Shinji ain't answering his frickin cell and I can't sense Strawberry or his goodie-goodie group either. That Chad guy and Boob girl…yeah, the other two no!"
"I like her." Karin grinned.
Tōshirō rolled his eyes. "She's a loose cannon with a…"
"Yeah, a major hate for anyone in your line of work. Me, well, I'm a Quincy. They don't hate or loathe me." She focused on the cross on her wrist and her civilian clothes changed into the Quincy uniform. "Don't worry, Spiky. I'll protect you." She winked at him, laughing at his flushed and very irked face.
"Stay here!"
"No. You stay. I'll go make nice with her. She's a lot like me, so we should get along great." Karin walked towards Hiyori.
"Get back here!"
"Not listening!"
*Well, well, well, so Captain Genius is stepping out with a little budding Quincette. Won't old man Yama be peeved.* Hiyori smirked then got a taste of the girl's reiatsu and the smirk turned to a scowl. Her spiritual pressure was off the charts with a similar signature not unlike Strawberry's. Meaning this girl had to be his sister. So he was also of Quincy blood. No wonder he was so off the charts power wise.
"I'm Karin Kurosaki. Strawberry is my big brother." Karin stared up at the girl floating above her head and wasn't the least bit intimidated by the simmering power she sensed from her.
"How is it that Strawberry's baby sister ends up being a Quincy-in-training? Who the hell are your parents anyway?" Hiyori demanded.
"My mother was Masaki Ishida…"
"Four-eyes is your cousin?!"
"Uryū is my cousin, as his father Ryūken is my Uncle. My father is Isshin Kurosaki formally known as Shin-ichi Yamamoto-Genryūsai the High King of the Soul Society. Though that didn't all come out until big brother eavesdropped on a conversation between our Grandfather, Uncle Amagai, and Dad when he snuck up there or over there to see his little brother Amagai formally known as Koji Yamamoto-Genryūsai…" Karin kept her face cool and neutral not acknowledging Hiyori's bug-eyed face.
"Shit!! By the Maker!! No wonder Ichigo is off the charts! He's the frickin Crowned Prince! Wait…Masaki…that's the Empresses…"
"Yeah, my mom…"
"Did he lose it!? Is that why Shorty there is here babysitting you?" Hiyori decided that snide sarcasm was the best way to handle what to her was information overload.
Fire lit up Karin's violet eyes. "No one babysits me or my sister. I don't care if you are my age or over a hundred someone should really teach you how to interact with people. Ichigo might tolerate it, but I won't. You don't know me or my family!" She snarled darkly her hands clinched in fists at her sides.
"Why you, little brat, I've killed little knats like you for mouthing off ta me!"
"You're nothing but a pathetic bully! So what if you've had a crappy life! Get over it! I lost my mom when I was really little! Grand Fisher killed her! It devastated Ichigo, changed him forever, but he never let it fester up and change him into a pathetic bully like you!" She really lit into her.
Hiyori's face flushed red with fury. No one talked to her like this ever! She went to draw her Zanpakutō. "I'd shut up if I were you!"
Tōshirō sprang to his feet and got between the two of them. "That is enough out of both of you! Ichigo would not approve of any of this! Karin's upset because her brother, Uryū, Rukia, and Renji fell into a trap along with Captain Kirio this afternoon! You, former Lt. Sarugaki, are exactly what she described you to be! Your violent tendencies towards your fellow Soul Reapers not to mention blatant unwarranted attacks on your superior officers are highly documented and used as examples of what is not tolerated in the Gotei 13 Protection squads. However much your assistance was essential during the Aizen-Arrancar war, all of your clan have been exonerated."
He locked eyes with Hiyori so that she knew that he meant business. "But if you so much as cause Princess Karin any harm I can assure you that Commander-general Yamamoto, the High King, Ichigo, Captain Amagai, and I will end your pathetic, hotheaded, brash, existence! That you ever made the rank of lieutenant disgusts me! In some ways you are no better than Kenpachi!"
"Take that back! I am nothing like that maniac!" Hiyori seethed just itching to draw her Zanpakutō. "I was a street rat in the 80th district of the Rukongai! I never wanted ta be vulnerable like that again! I never got a chance to be a kid! My parents tossed me away like trash! I ran with a gang of kids. We stole what we needed to get by. Shinji and Love caught me trying to pick Kirio's pocket. I was hungry and Shinigami were always loaded and I was the fastest pick pocket in the whole Rukongai. They saved my life. Lady Kirio took me in, saw the hidden potential in me. I owe her everything. If she's in trouble then I'm going back there to help her and Strawberry!"
Karin suddenly felt like her head wanted to come off. The feeling was so acute and so sudden that she knew that something was wrong with Ichigo. He was off the scales mad, beyond frustrated over something, yet it was like there were two of him and not just one. "Big brother needs me! Tōshirō, can you take me to the Soul Society." She grabbed hold of his jacket, her eyes pleading with him to help her.
"Karin, what makes you think that Ichigo is in trouble?" He turned his focus on her and it killed him to see such pain and anguish shining in her eyes.
"I just do! He's all messed up again! It's like he's two, but not…Oh, who cares how I know he needs me!" She threw her hands up in frustration.
"What do ya mean by him being two but not? He's got complete control, so that ain't possible unless some idiot triggered the change." Hiyori grabbed hold of Karin by her arms and shook her.
"It's like he was a few weeks ago only different. It's not about him having this big mad about Dad lying to him. No. This is about something different." Karin focused her frustration into mentally sending Hiyori flying back into the nearby net.
"Calm down. He's with Renji, Rukia, Uryū, and the Captain of the Royal Guard. He's also a force unto himself." Tōshirō took her by the shoulders. "Now getting upset helps no one and my opening a senkaimon without informing the others is…"
"Blatant rule breaking and Spiky here would never dream of doing that would ya Brainy." Hiyori walked over not the least bit irked that Karin had sent her flying on her ass. This girl had sass and she liked that in anyone. "I'm not a goodie-goodie, so if you can find them I'll take you there. Kiri and Ichigo mean a lot ta me. I'm not about to leave their fate to the Soul Reapers. If what I think has happened they're all out of their league anyway and wouldn't be able to handle him if they tried." She unsheathed her Zanpakutō.
"We're all aware of his inner Hollow. If Captian Kurotsuchi has caused his Hollowfication to occur then Captains Rose, Love, and Kensei would be able to handle reining him in."Tōshirō stated coolly his sea-green eyes narrowed with temper. The little brat was asking for it.
"You owe me, Hitsugaya. Besides, Old man Yama ordered ya ta watch over the little princess right."
"That's not the point it's dangerous."
"She's a frickin Quincy! Hell, a prodigy like her big brother or you! She'll be fine! I saved your ass during the war. You owe me. You owe Ichigo even more. She's also got Shinigami Royal blood running through her veins, so the Soul Society is as much hers as is the human world."
"She's a sensitive. Her mind won't be able to acclimate properly and she'll barely be able to think clearly let alone locate Ichigo." He shoved Karin behind him so that he could go nose to nose with Hiyori.
"Sensitive!" Karin bristled at the thought of being considered a liability. "Yeah, so what of I'm empathic! It won't matter!" she snarled in his ear.
"Shit! That sucks for you! Getting handed that kinda fate!" Hiyori rolled her eyes, not the least bit sympathetic. "But ya gotta learn sometime, so you'll just have to take it and shake it off."
"Hiyori, she gets physically ill!"
"It was just that one time! I've learned to work through all of that!"
"You are ten, a mere infant learning to walk on unsteady legs! Your fledgling abilities are just beginning to emerge…" Tōshirō turned around setting his hands on her shoulders, his eyes ages older than his adolescent appearance.
The wisdom, hardships, power, and emotional turmoil sent Karin staggering backwards away from him, as flashes of images raced through her head compounded by feelings, raw emotions and power barely kept in check. "I don't care…" She gasped. "Ichigo needs me…" She fought back the urge to rub her temples; her head felt like it was going to blow off her shoulders. Tōshirō was so messed up inside, yet he kept such icy cool composure at all times. Never once revealing the chaos of emotions waging war inside his head…Order and reason kept it all in balance and he lived by that mantra to hold back the chaos inside.
Hiyori boxed his ears. "You bonehead! What'd ya wanna do, Brainy! Cause her head to blow apart inside!" She shoved him hard, but he didn't budge. He was too busy reeling over his instant soul bond with Karin. It was staggering and he just stood there staring barely aware of Hiyori's tantrum.
"She's new at this and you go and mind meld with her head!" She went to punch him in the nose and his hand came up lightning fast and blocked her, capturing her fist in his own hand. Before she knew it she was rocketing straight through the goals netting at light speed.
Karin's eyes practically bugged out at what he'd just done. She could see the power radiating around him in icy blue waves, not unlike her brother when he was in a temper. Only he did it all by instinct, as his mind was obviously not all there. She tentatively walked up to him and waved her hand in front of his face. "Um…Tōshirō are you okay?"
He stared blankly at her.
"Well, this is just great! My mind was near meltdown too and do you see me going all catatonic? No! I just slammed down all of my emergency barriers and worked past it." She paced in front of him.
"He's male. They're weaklings for the most part. I mean, all of that attitude is bullshit." Hiyori floated above her head.
"They use it to hide their fatal flaws." She sneered, rolling her eyes in disgust. "Then again ya did kinda blow him away by being able ta link with him as if it were nothin, so the boy's gone into shock."
"Grudge or not. Vizard or not. You aren't gonna beat on my friend while he's gone all 'fire bad tree pretty' right now!" Karin's eyes darkened to deep purple and an aura of cerulean blue energy radiated around her body. "You will leave him alone and cool it or I'll make you sorry that you didn't!"
"Aw! You're crushin on Captain Brainy! Ain't that sweet! Stop I'll get cavities!" Hiyori was rolling with laughter.
Karin formed her bow and shot her in the ass with an arrow. "He's my friend and it has nothing to do with me crushing on him!"
Hiyori yelped in surprise rubbing her derriere to soothe the stinging pain. "You are so gonna pay for that, princess!" Here eyes narrowed to slits, her teeth gritted in pent up fury. "No one does that and lives!"
"Bring it on, snaggle tooth! Ichigo and Dad aren't the only ones in my family that know how to kick ass and I'll do it using my bare hands too!" Karin raised her fists and got ready to do combat.
Hiyori launched herself at her both fists outstretched to land the first blow. "You're outta your league, princess brat!"
Karin countered with a flying kick to Hiyori's face, a move the former lieutenant wasn't expecting and found herself the recipient of a broken nose. "Oh, I'm shaking. I'm so scared! Not!"
She immediately followed that with a punch to Hiyori's jaw sending her spiraling into the air straight into the truck of a nearby tree. "I'm Karakura Red! You don't frighten me in the least! Now we're wasting time, so are you in or do ya want some more. Cuz…I'm just warming up!"
"Oh, it's on! You little pain in the ass!" She wiped the blood from her face. This brat was steaks.
"Grow up! All being a bully does is makes you look pathetic and desperate for attention. If you tried to be nice for a change you might just find that people will want to be your friend! But go ahead and try your damndest, cuz I know all of your moves! Big brother keeps a combat journal!" Karin snarled up at her.
"ENOUGH!" Tōshirō roared at the two of them.
That more than got their attention.
"This adolescent tantrum is over! All that you both have accomplished is alerting the others to your antics and that is something that I do not wish to deal with right now!" He opened up a senkaimon with Hyōrinmaru.
"Both of you in that gate now or we return to Karin's residence and have the Commander-General and High King sort the two of you out!" He ordered darkly using a Kidō spell to knock Hiyori out of the tree.
Hiyori landed hard on her rear. Blood streamed from her nose, her left eye was black and blue and nearly swollen shut. She glared murderously at Karin from her good eye.
"Don't even think about it, Sarugaki. Karin's more than proven that she can beat you in a fair fight." Tōshirō had ditched his gigai and Hyōrinmaru breathing icy streams of fire was curled protectively around Karin.
"Um…nice ice dragon…" Karin shivered, but not from the icy cold. This dragon's eyes matched perfectly with his wielders.
:Fear not, little one. What my wielder cherishes is mine to watch over as well: Hyōrinmaru growled softly in her head.
Karin's eyes widened as big as saucers and her violet eyes mirrored her startled state of being. Her rapport with all living things worked on ancient spirits as well. Now that cherish part that was a no touch subject. She was ten. He was way older than her. Friendship was fine, soul bond or not she was ages away from anything beyond that.
:Friends…Your wielder and I are friends. Ichigo, that's my big brother, wouldn't go for anything else and may harm your wielder in a fatally serious way.: She tentatively answered back, ignoring Tōshirō's alarmed look that she was able to talk with his familiar. "Chill out, Tōshirō. I also have empathy with all creatures alive or dead."
:Ah yes, the young prince. My wielder and I have felt his wrath before when my wielder was undergoing a trying ordeal. The young prince saved him and for that I am eternally in his debt, as is my wielder.: Hyōrinmaru seemed amused yet unafraid.
"Karin, it is extremely rare for anyone other than the wielder of the Zanpakutō to be able to converse or interact with the spirit within the sword." He growled softly, as he tended to Hiyori's wounds using medicinal Kidō.
She was also stunned speechless. "Not another one…Tell me is she the last or is there a third?"
"She has a twin sister. However, where Karin has a fiery spirit like her brother. Yuzu has a nurturing one not unlike her mother." Tōshirō answered in a low tone as not to set off Karin again.
"Thank the Creator for that miracle. One is bad enough, but two more now that's overkill." Hiyori let out a sight of relief. "All in all I like her and so does your dragon." She snickered.
Tōshirō refused to comment on that. "Just go through the gate before things get complicated."
"Like it ain't complicated now?" She grinned then held up her hands in truce when he glared murderously at her. "Just kidding. Hey Karin. Let's go find Strawberry before you cause the Captain ta go tilt again." She walked over to the young girl finding herself eye to eye with the dragon. "Truce. She's got spunk. I respect that, so she's alright with me. No harm no foul. If I had human/spiritual female friends she'd top the list."
:It's okay, Hyōrinmaru. Go back to sleep until he needs you again. We're just gonna go find my brother, cousin, and their friends.: She reassured the dragon and he returned to his wielder. "Friends is better than enemies, now let's go." She headed towards the gate.
Three hell-butterflies fluttered out of it signaling that someone had cleared the way. The three of them stepped inside and it closed behind them.
Just as Chad arrived at the field. "Ichigo's dad isn't gonna like this." He turned around and headed back to the clinic.
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Next
Chapter eleven
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Cindra © 2008-2009