AN: I'm not sure how much this would help with the whole cliff-hanger thing, but this is late enough as it is, so… Sorry if the chapter isn't what you wanted it to be. I took liberties with Kidō, not really having that much information to work with. I loosely based it around some of the concepts related to the Tea Ceremony in Zen Buddhism, in case anyone was wondering where the heck I pulled all this from.

Thank you to all my lovely readers and reviewers. I haven't had a chance to reply to all of you quite yet, but I will get around to it. It was between me updating on time, and me replying :( I'll have the replies in by the weekend.

Bleach does not belong to me. If only it did: Hanataro needs to grow a backbone. In a cute way.

[C]

[H]e found her classroom easily enough, having been there earlier that week, but was surprised to find that Karin was not in her normal spot. That desk was empty and Karin was seated in front of the class, a solitary table not far from the teacher's own. From how Karin was scowling at the woman, Tōshirō surmised the girl was being punished.

She noticed his presence almost immediately, her eyes darting to where he stood by the door. She stared for a moment. "Get me out of here," her eyes seemed to plead.

Tōshirō almost felt bad, but firmly stamped out the feeling. He wasn't supposed to be involved with humans. He should not care.

He shrugged, and made to leave. If she was busy, he'd talk to her later. There was still the issue of Ayasegawa and Madarame's incompetence to attend to.

"Yes, Kurosaki?"

Karin had her hand raised, and was giving her teacher a sheepish but urgent look.

"Ano, sensei. But I really need to use the bathroom."

"Should have used it when you took that extra thirty minutes getting to school today."

"Sensei! I told you! It wasn't my fault! There was a little girl, and she was crying-"

"It is still your responsibility to get to school on time. We've been over this, Kurosaki. And you've been warned before about tardiness. Coming in late to school, uniform dirty, mud all over your shoes, then lying about some helpless little girl – who obviously can't exist because all children should have been in school – just because you had to get into another fight, or ran off to play soccer with the delinquents that hang out around the park, or whatever it is unruly girls like you do. I've heard enough. Keep this up and you'll be stuck in the seat of disgrace for the rest of the school year."

So the punishment was because she had been detained by the hollow. It wasn't her fault… not really.

Karin had her dark eyes locked onto him.

"Please?" she seemed to say. Tōshirō was annoyed at how she got to him. No, he thought to himself. Think of Hinamori. Think of my obligations to the Gotei 13. This… alliance with a living person is not what a captain does. Her punishment is unfair, but it is not my place to interfere.

Looking at her with hard eyes, he shook his head. Turning his back to her, he took off towards the high school.

[C]

[S]omething was wrong with Tōshirō. It was plain as day from the moment she saw him. If only the stupid teacher had let Karin go to him! At that moment, Karin wished she had the ability Ichi-nii had, to jump out of his body at will, and leave it behind to deal with stuff all the that really mattered.

Like finding out what was wrong with Tōshirō.

He was angry, yes. But that wasn't what concerned her. It was the worry she saw. Fear and sadness, clouding his usually beautiful blue-green eyes. A glimpse into his heart, enough for her to worry. Then he walked away from her. That selfish bastard.

Karin knew they weren't in a "relationship" of any kind. He didn't have to answer to her anymore than she had to answer to him. But for him to barge into class, weighed down on his own damn emotions, and upset her already pathetic day? She wanted to shake some sense into the boy.

Wasn't she supposed to be all perfect for him? Wasn't she supposed to understand him the best? Hadn't they already started to establish that they were becoming pretty good friends? Didn't one of those reason earn her some kind of explanation?

Damn it all.

The memory of those conflicted blue eyes haunted her. Undoubtedly Hitsugaya Tōshirō was the type of boy to bottle everything in, probably until he broke down from it. Why wouldn't he talk to her, then?

Stupid males. Stupid males and their need to be the strong, silent types.

"Yo, Karin-chan."

She looked up, surprised to be visited a second time by a Shinigami, this time in the form of Shihōn Yoruichi.

Her mouth opened, the word, "Hello" starting to form, before Karin remembered where she was. Surreptitiously pointing at her teacher, Karin shrugged and put on her most apologetic look.

"Punished, eh? What did you do?" Yoruichi leaned over her desk, and pushed a sheet of paper in front of Karin.

Until that point, Karin hadn't realized Yoruichi was in spirit-form. But the entire class, including the teacher who was mere inches away, was oblivious to the royal. Karin picked up a pencil and wrote, "Was late for class. Ran into a hollow."

Yoruichi's eyes gleamed. "The one by the soccer field? I thought so. How did you handle it?"

"I don't know," Karin wrote honestly. "I channeled some reiatsu, shot it at the hollow. My zanpakutō told me how." She fumbled with the characters for reiatsu and zanpakutō.

"My, my. You're full of surprises, aren't you Karin-chan? How about we get you out of class?"

Karin stared blankly at the woman.

"Just you sit back. Leave it to me."

Karin's eyes were only barely able to follow Yoruichi as she did something to the elementary school teacher. The prim and proper sensei crumpled into an ungainly heap on the floor.

"See!" Yoruichi said rather smugly.

"Is she going to be okay?" Karin couldn't help but whisper back, half fascinated, half horrified at how easily Yoruichi had disabled the woman.

The dark-skinned woman waved off Karin's concern. "That was nothing. Your sensei will enjoy a nice, long nap, and will be right as rain tomorrow!"

Karin nodded, unsure of how else to react.

The classroom had erupted into utter chaos. A teacher from the neighboring classroom came running in. Shortly after the school nurse arrived, along with the principal. Thirty uncomfortable minutes later, with multiple adults trickling in and out of the classroom - all of whom paused to give Karin a look that let the girl know they did not approve of her, never mind that they didn't know what she'd done wrong - it was decided that the children would be let out of class early. There were no substitutes available to supervise a class. Their parents had already been informed.

"Come on," Yoruichi said as everyone packed up. "I wanna see what you did with the hollow earlier."

"Could I…" Karin felt a blush spreading, and tried to shake the embarrassment off. "Think I could check on Tōshirō real quick, first?" She asked.

"Eh?" Yoruichi looked at Karin. "Miss Hitsugaya-kun already?" The woman teased.

"No!" Karin cried, then realizing people were staring at her now – after all it did look like she was talking to thin air – lowered her voice. "He's acting weird. He's worried about something. And angry," she added as she reached out to Tōshirō's reiatsu and came away with ice and hostility. "He's not himself." She ended, aware of how sappy she sounded.

Yoruichi nodded. "Why don't you head over to the training area. I'll let Tessai know we're starting early. And I'll check up on Hitsugaya-kun for you, how is that?"

"Arigato, Yoruichi-san."

"No worries, Karin-chan. Been there, done that. I hope you have it easier than we did."

[C]

"[A]h, Hitsugaya Taichō… You see…"

Tōshirō knew he was leaking reiatsu, knew he was (possibly) being unreasonable in his anger. But he didn't care right this moment. He was Captain, and they had to answer to him.

"No, I don't see." Tōshirō snapped. "Explain it to me one more time."

"I uh… owed the human girl who was giving us housing a favor, Hitsugaya Taichō! So I had to help her train the school's kendo club!"

"3rd seat Madarame! Have you forgotten your obligation to the Gotei 13?"

"No, Hitsugaya Taichō!"

"You are to cease this training. If it means you lose a roof over your head, so be it. I don't care what you do in your spare time. But when an alert goes out you do your job. You've done nothing but dally in human affairs all week. Do not for one second think I am unaware of your inactivity. You are to make up for it immediately. I expect your weekly report in by the end of today. Complete. And. Edited. And if it is a blank sheet of paper because you have had nothing to report, you are going to find that the consequences are very unfortunate."

"Yes! Hitsugaya Taichō!"

"Where is Ayasegawa? I want to speak to him too."

"Uh… I can pass what you've said to him too…"

"I prefer to handle this myself."

Even to his own ears, Tōshirō knew he sounded cold and harsh. But god damnit, he was sick of the complacency, the distractions, the needless antics. If they could not show him respect, then…

Augh!

The early encounters with the Arrancar cemented in Tōshirō's mind the strength Aizen's army would possess. It was time for the Shinigami to step up their game. They could not afford to waste time. Abarai had the right idea – he was working his ass off, to get stronger, to defeat the traitors. Everyone else…

Tōshirō just about growled.

"Tell Ayasegawa I expect him to report to me by the end of the day."

"Hai, Taichō."

Tōshirō left without another word. Just outside of the empty classroom, the boy Keigo was clinging onto the doorframe, blatantly eavesdropping. At least the boy had the sense to run in the opposite direction, when Tōshirō leveled a cold stare in his direction. If only the others were that sensible.

He sighed, with hands shoved in this pockets, started to head towards the direction he could feel Ayasegawa in. If the captain wasn't mistaken, the other 11th division member was holed up in the school cafeteria. Lovely. At least they didn't serve sake to children. Goodness knew how hard it would be to drag any of his damn team members away for a talk – business or otherwise – then.

"Why so angry, Hitsugaya-kun?"

Tōshirō swirled around. Yoruichi was leaning against the wall next to him, arms crossed, eyeing him with interest.

"It's Hitsugaya-taichō," he said with a scowl. "And nothing is wrong," he said shortly. He knew he couldn't outrun the woman; Knew it was childish to try and run, anyhow.

"Karin-chan's pretty upset."

He tensed before he could help himself. "It's not my fault if she's in trouble," he said, hoping the woman would buy his nonchalance.

She wasn't. "It isn't the end of the world if you care about her, you know. You don't have to lie about it."

If he thought he could get away with rolling his eyes, he would. "Sure," he said tersely. He turned and made to walk away.

"Hitsugaya-kun." Yoruichi had her hand on his wrist, and held him with a surprisingly tight grip as she pulled him back towards her. "Talk to Karin-chan," she said, all business now.

"I will."

"Don't lie."

He stared at her. What would have left people feeling chilled, had the Shihōin princess smirking at him in amusement.

"Been there, done that. Trust me, it'll get better… Fighting this is just going to hurt both of you."

Tōshirō remained impassive.

"Talk to Karin-chan. I've got her out of school, but I have to talk to Kisuke and Tessai real quick before I start her training proper. You should know where she is."

He shook his head. "I have reports to finish."

"You have Matsumoto working on them."

Tōshirō could feel his eye twitching. What was this? Had the woman been stalking him?

"Fine," He said. "I'll speak with Kurosaki."

"Right now. Leave Ayasegawa-san for later. I'll make sure to have him waiting for you."

It took the 10th squad captain several deep breaths to control his temper. Damn Kurosaki, damn meddling zanpakutōs, and this whole damn affair. Hitsugaya Tōshirō had not spent his entire Shinigami career working to prove himself, establish that he was more than just some kid, only to be reduced to such a pathetically childish state because of some girl. He could do better than this.

With all the dignity he could muster, Captain of the 10th division, Hitsugaya Tōshirō nodded. "If there's nothing else, I'll head to Kurosaki now."

If only he could do something about the smug smile on the woman's face.

"She's at the usual place. Go talk to her. And stop frowning. It makes you look like an old man."

The Goddess of Flash was gone before Tōshirō could reply.

[C]

[S]he was so focused on her little reiatsu ball that she didn't notice his presence. So when the edges of black kimono entered her field of vision, Karin dropped the sphere of energy. It dissipated before it hit the ground as her concentration broke.

"Tōshirō!" She exclaimed. "You're ok! That's a relief." But the smile on her face wavered, as she caught the wariness in the boy's eyes. "What's wrong?"

"We shouldn't be doing this." He said.

Karin frowned. "Do what? What's wrong? You've been tense since I saw you this morning…"

Tōshirō cut her off. "This!" He said, gesturing around them. "My consorting with you. You're a living soul. I have obligations to the Gotei 13. We should not be bound. This makes no sense."

"Right," Karin said cautiously. "But we already established it can't be helped."

"So maybe we didn't try hard enough!"

Something inside Karin snapped. She surged to her feet, and stared straight into those cold, unwelcoming blue eyes of the Shinigami before her. "Do you think I want this? Do you? I faced a bloody hollow today, and I was defenseless. I had nothing! No katana, not even a soccer ball to save my ass.

"I had to lie to Yuzu, to get her to run. She's still mad at me; she thinks I got rid of her to… go play soccer, or get into a fight, or whatever it was my crazy teacher accused me of. I was late for school, as I am often late for school, because of the damn spiritual world.

"My life would be so much simpler, if none of you existed. I wouldn't be running interference, trying to keep Yuzu smiling when Ichi-nii disappears for long periods of time, or worse yet, returns home broken. I would not have all these migraines and sleepless nights. I would not be haunted by the stench of death and decay. I would not be causing freak storms, or conversing with my soul, because YOU happened to awaken her. I'm eleven, Hitsugaya Tōshirō. I know it's been a damned long time since you were that age, since you're so quick to remind me, but let me tell you this: eleven year olds are not meant to be skipping class to learn how to control their reiatsu."

Karin was screaming now. She wanted to hit the boy. She wanted to wipe that look of surprise, and the cold mask he slipped on over it, off the Shinigami captain's face. She hadn't lost this much control in a long, long time.

Most importantly, Karin hated how her heart wrenched at how Tōshirō shut her out.

"So I'll leave," he said tonelessly. "And this will be over."

The mirthless laugh left Karin's lips before she could stop it. "Really, Tōshirō? Just like that? Pretend it doesn't exist and it won't? Real mature. I mean, really."

His empty eyes met, and held her own. "That is Hitsugaya-Taichō, for you," the boy said coldly.

Karin's jaw dropped.

"Goodbye, Kurosaki."

And he was gone in a blink of an eye.

For the oddest reason, it felt as though she could hear his voice in her head. He was whispering, "I'm so sorry, Hinamori."

[C]

[W]hen Yoruichi returned with a stocky, mustached man in tow, Karin was destroying the tree truck Tōshirō had sat on the day before, piece by piece, methodically attacking it with projectile reiatsu until it was reduced to splinters and ash.

"Impressive, Karin-chan," the woman observed.

Karin jumped, and turned to face the two adults watching her with amused eyes.

"Yoruichi-san!" Karin stammered. "And... uh... Tessai-san!"

"Something the matter, Karin-chan?" The woman enquired.

"Oh, oh no." Karin said, sounding a little too chipper. "Everything is just dandy."

"Let me guess, Hitsugaya-san?"

Karin smiled, a tad too brightly. "Oh no, no. I'm just practicing."

Yoruichi smirked. "Been there, done that, remember? What did he say?"

Karin's smile faltered, then. "I… I don't know. Just… Just…" With sharp golden eyes pinning Karin to the spot, the emotions from the confrontation earlier came rushing back. Through gritted teeth, she snarled, "Just that this-" and she pointed at herself. "Was a mistake. And that we hadn't tried hard enough to stop this."

She watched as golden eyes were rolled. "Boys. All idiots. I'll straighten him out." But there was something about the way Yoruichi said it that had Karin balking.

"Matte, Yoruichi-san," Karin interrupted. "It… I just… It probably wasn't his fault. I- He sounded upset, you know? Like something bad had happened? He said something…" And she paused, because the way he had whispered the name sounded fairly intimate, and Karin wasn't sure it was something to share-

"Something? Well, I'm going to go and talk to Hitsugaya-kun now, the-"

"Hinamori!" Karin said hastily. She definitely did not like the look in Yoruichi's eyes. "I- I think he said something about being sorry to Hinamori."

"Right, that does sound like him." Yoruichi looked contemplative for half a second. "Right. Well, Karin-chan, I'll be right back!"

"Yoruichi-san!" Karin called, but the woman was already racing over the tree-tops, and out of view.

The girl frowned.

"Karin-chan," a deep voice said, causing Karin to tear her eyes away from the skyline to look at the man. "I'm Tessai. Would you care to show me how you were doing what you were doing?"

Feeling more than a little defeated, Karin sighed. From what Yoruichi had said, kidō sounded interesting. It would be something to take her mind off of a certain boy. Maybe.

"Well," Karin said, pulling up yet another small ball of reiatsu. She offered it to the man for consideration. "My zanpakutō told me that all I needed to do was…"

[C]

[K]idō, Karin decided, was fun. Ok, so the theory part wasn't quite as interesting, at least in the beginning. But then something Tessai said, about designated incantations and gestures caught her attention.

"Gestures?" She had asked, and proceeded to make the man repeat half of his lecture.

Kidō, or demon magic, he explained, had a lot to do with will-power, and concentration. Specific incantations were often used, along with elaborate hand gestures, because it forced the caster to focus. Kidō spells were essentially a very fine tuned manipulation of reiatsu and reishi, spirit particles.

When Tessai, after watching her play with low level spells for awhile, finally asked, "Are you sure you're Kurosaki Ichigo's sister?" Karin laughed, thoughts of Tōshirō (mostly) out of her mind.

The incantations, Karin still struggled with. But the gestures came easily enough, and with practice, Karin found that she was able to identify the different feel of the reiatsu associated with each spell. That made things much easier.

She was so absorbed with the lesson that lunchtime caught her off guard.

She was hungrier than expected, and after wolfing down the bento box Yuzu prepared, Karin graciously accepted the second box that Tessai offered. Over tempura and rice, the man explained to her how her body would require more food, to replenish her reiryoku store.

Conversation led to a history of her spiritual awareness, and onto her most recently conversation with her zanpakutō. Tessai didn't appear to be a man of many words, but he seemed genuinely interested in Karin's situation, and perhaps that was why he was speaking so freely with her.

"Your zanpakutō is most wise," the man told her, with a smile. "Kidō based zanpakutōs especially require a certain touch to wielding them, because there is more to them than the clash of blades. The wielder must learn how to control the kidō elements, otherwise the attacks will go astray."

Karin nodded thoughtfully. "So… Patience, then?"

"Patience, discipline, dedication," the man nodded. "Those are the keys to mastering your zanpakutō."

Awed, Karin could only ask, "Do you really think I can?"

The man smiled at her. "I believe your zanpakutō wouldn't be guiding you so strongly if you weren't ready. Many an entry level Shinigami into the Gotei 13 and its affiliates start out with a dormant zanpakutō. Many never achieve Shikai in their lifetime, and several others take decades to achieve that state. That you're able to converse as you have been with your zanpakutō means you're already ahead of the learning curve."

It took Karin a moment to absorb all the information.

"So you guys really think I can become a Shinigami?" She asked. "I mean, don't I have to… die or something?"

"The quality of your soul is definitely that of a Shinigami. But I'm afraid I don't understand how this came about. You'd have to speak with Urahara-san to learn more about that. He understands more of those kinds of mechanisms." Karin winced at the thought of speaking to the eccentric shop keeper.

Come," Tessai said, as he cleared up after the meal. "I suspect Yoruichi-sama will be returning shortly. Would you like to start on some of the Bakudō spells, until she returns? I'm interested in running through the list to see what you can handle."

Bakudō. The defensive spells, stuff that she could use to protect people, such as Yuzu. Karin nodded enthusiastically.

"Something practical, please," the girl requested. "Lets' start with the stuff you think I'll use the most."

The man thought for a moment. "Very well. We'll start in the lowder midrange. This is Bakudō 26, Kyakko…"

[C]

[I]t was the first time Tōshirō ever purposefully ignored his zanpakutō. Hyōrinmaru was always so good about giving him space, when he needed it. Hyōrinmaru could usually tell when Tōshirō wasn't ready for something; The dragon spirit knew when to back off, and wait for when his master was ready, before bringing up a delicate point. But not this time.

Had something happened, during this debacle with the girl, that even his zanpakutō had become changed in the process? Tōshirō wondered. He shoved down the nagging thought that Hyōrinmaru was pressing the issue because it was urgent. That the girl was something Tōshirō had to deal with now.

Aizen is a pressing issue. The Arrancar, the Espada, those are pressing issues. Hinamori's finally out of coma, that's a pressing issue. An illegal relationship with a living soul, not so much. That can wait a lifetime. Or two.

His head was pounding, and Tōshirō suspected the headache was a result of his sword.

In the living room, Matsumoto was finishing up editing the weekly reports. Tōshirō almost felt sorry for dumping the work on her. But the paperwork. At least the paperwork was done.

Still, his head… his head felt like it was about to split apart, and the nauseated, queasy feeling would not leave the pit of his stomach.

He had to fix things. They had to get out of the living world, soon. Especially now that they knew what Aizen was after… There was no way this rag tag group would save the entire town. They needed a contingency plan. They needed backup.

"You idiot!"

The fist came out of nowhere, and Tōshirō found himself reeling back, his vision bursting into a million tiny stars as his head connected with the wall behind him.

"Whoa. You really weren't paying attention, were you, Hitsugaya-kun." The grating voice of Shihōin Yoruichi came from somewhere next to him.

"Damn you," Tōshirō growled. He struggled to shake off the disorientation. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Knocking some sense into your thick skull, apparently." Her golden eyes examined him carefully. "What happened, Hitsugaya-kun?"

"Nothing," he bit out. "Don't you have something better to do?"

"Nope!" The woman said cheerfully. "All that I'm concerned about right now is making things right between you and Karin-chan."

"There's nothing between us," Tōshirō could feel his eye twitching, a dead giveaway of his frustration. That got him to pull him temper back in. Annoying though this woman might be it was unbecoming for him to lose control of himself like this. Once was more than enough.

"You're way too uptight," the woman observed. "Relax a little bit. It's not the end of the world, being with Karin-chan. It probably won't even be against any regulations. She's Shinigami through and through. Yamamoto-taichō isn't going to give you any trouble. We'll make sure of that."

"But I don't want her," Tōshirō said. "I don't need a girl in my life."

"And Hinamori?"

"Hinamori's different."

"Precisely," the infuriating woman said. "Hinamori isn't tied to your soul. I'm not saying she's less important! But realize Karin-chan is part of you, whether you like it or not."

He could only growl.

"Hey. Stop it," Yoruichi snapped, utterly serious now. "You are not the only person going through this. You are not the only person who has had to go through this. Believe me, I've said this multiple times, but you are not alone. Kisuke and I have been through it, and it was not pretty. Stop trying to make the mistakes we made."

"You seem to be perfectly happy together."

"We are," she said calmly. "Because we aren't always together. It takes times, learning to understand each other. It takes compromise. But you eventually find a happy medium, and everything just… falls into place. Kisuke has his store, his experiments, his meddlesome tendencies. I like to wander off, out in the open, and explore. I like the sun, I like being active. He likes being holed up in some stuffy, dimly lit hell room for weeks on end. We give each other space. We don't force the other to change who they are. We're able to function as we are because we are able to understand each other. And in the end… You'll find it's very comforting to have someone who'd accept you, with all your quirks and eccentricities."

"I don't have any time, for her. We don't even belong in the same worlds, even if she does have high reiatsu."

The woman burst out into amused laughter again. "Oh, Hitsugaya-kun. All this time we've been talking about how we were going to help train Karin-chan in the aspects of being a Shinigami, and you've never bothered to find out why we were saying that? You didn't even feel it, did you? Let's see…"

She tilted her head upwards, her eyes closed as she felt for something.

"Here… and… stupid kidō barrier, can barely feel… there we go!"

Her hands darted out, and pulled into view two red spirit threads. "Here we go!" Yoruichi said happily. She shoved the two threads in front of him, forcing him to cross his eyes, and finally step back before he could get a good look at them.

"What the…" Tōshirō said, staring numbly at the ribbons clasped in Yoruichi's hands. He could feel the slight tug on his soul, and knew one of the threads were his. But the other…

It was entwined to his with a delicate red string that wove between the two threads.

Dumbfounded, he could only utter, "It can't be…"

"Sorry, Hitsugay-kun. We told you it's unavoidable. If you continue to fight against it, you're just going to rip the two of you to shreds."

He shook his head. "There has to be another way! I made a promise to protect Hinamori. I can't abandon her just because of… of this!"

"What does looking after Hinamori have to do with this? Karin-chan isn't Hinamori. And there's no choosing one over the other. Your zanpakutō's done the choosing for you. And as for your worried about Hinamori, ever thought of talking to Karin-chan about this? Perhaps she would have some insight on the demands of your 'relationship' in the context of your pre-existing relationship with Hinamori." Yoruichi's voice was uncharacteristically gentle.

"What's the point?" He wondered out loud. "She wouldn't understand."

"Ahh, but Hitsugaya-kun, that's where you're wrong. Karin-chan would understand very much. Otherwise she wouldn't be so tightly tied to you."

He sighed and closed his eyes, wishing everything could be part of some awful dream, and would just go away.

"Talk to Hyōrinmaru," Yoruichi advised. "Then talk to Karin-chan. And talk to your subordinates. I understand you are captain, and in charge of this mission. But think about whether you let your emotions affect your interaction with your subordinates."

She didn't press him any further when he buried his face in his hands.

"Karin-chan is working with Tessai on kidō right now. Sounds like she's got a kidō based zanpakutō. I think we might pull her out of her body this evening, check her out as a Shinigami. If she's anything like Ichigo, she's going to come out swinging, zanpakutō at her side and everything." There was a look that could only be described as "sadistic glee" on the former captain's face. "If you're gonna apologize, do it before she has access to a katana. She's dangerous enough with kidō, though I'm pretty proud of that kid. Karin reduced a tree to splinters, only using raw reiatsu. Imagine what it'd be like to have her chasing after you with kidō and a sword. And don't forget how her brother seems to burst out into those crazy power spikes when stressed out. You wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of that."

In a perfect world, a Shinigami Captain had no business being afraid of a human girl. Pity the world Hitsugaya Tōshirō lived in was far from ideal.

[C]

So here we go with chapter 10. I've not had too much of a chance to proof read, so I apologize. Looking ahead, this back and forth rapid POV change shouldn't last much longer. I don't know how it's working for you guys as readers, but it's hard for me to switch in and out of Karin and Tōshirō's heads when editing for character consistency. Pity I didn't think about that when I first wrote these chapters.

I love reviews, so be nice and leave me one. I promise I'll get back to you on them soon, at least after I'm done being sick. Who gets ear infections past age 6? Apparently me. Now I know why children scream so much when they get one. It hurts.