See, I told you updates would be quick this week.

And again if you recognize it I don't own it.

Hope you like this chapter too.

Ch 11

Karin's POV

I awoke to the door slowly opening, making a slight creaking noise. I shot out of bed in a second unsure as to where I was. My dorm room door doesn't creak. My first sight of the day was a guy dropping a tray of what looked to be my food, or at least it was supposed to be, until I scared the poor guy into dropping it.

I had forgotten until now that I was in the forth because I passed out yesterday.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to scare you, but I forgot where I was and kind of got spooked," I told my new guest.

"It's really alright. You wouldn't believe how many times this type of thing happens here. At least you didn't hit me like the guys from the eleventh do when they're here," the guy replied.

He bent down to start cleaning up the mess. Because I was the cause of said mess, I also bent down to help.

"Oh you don't have to do that!"

"It's alright. I helped make this mess, so I'm going to help clean it up."

I said in an attempt to calm him down, for he had started to fidget.

"I'm Karin by the way," I told him, trying to start a conversation so it wasn't such an uncomfortable silence.

"Nice to meet you. My name is Yamada Hanatarou, sixth seat of the forth division," he replied. "But you can call me Hanatarou, everyone does."

He's a seated officer? That's so cool! I thought. Never thought that this type of person would be one though. Guess it takes all kinds. I guess he does look fit enough. He looks to be my height, has black shoulder length hair, and light blue eyes.

"So when can I leave?" I asked.

It had to be about noon by the looks of things outside the window. I'm definitely missing class.

"Well, I was actually told to check on you, and if you were awake, I was to give you lunch and then go and get taicho."

"Oh I see." Was all I could think of to say to that. Then added, "well, I'm awake now!"

That got a little nervous chuckle out of him while he was sopping up the reminisce of what looked to be miso soup, with a rag.

"Than I shall go get some more food for you, and bring it and taicho back with me. If you'll excuse me," he said as he was picking up the tray of mess and bowing as he left.

Guess I'll go sit down and wait for them to get here. Deciding that now was as good a time as any, I started to gaze around the room to see if there was anything interesting to keep me occupied for a bit.

The first thing I noticed was a rack hanging on the wall at the end of the bed I was currently sitting on. But it wasn't the rack that grabbed my attention, but the item on it.

I stood up and went over to the rack and picked up the sword that was resting there. The moment that I touched it I knew it was my zanpakuto, Houna.

She was much longer than most katana were, with a red sheath, a black guard with red flames on it. The handle its self was red and black. It was the amazing! I could hardly believe that she was mine.

In a trance like state I unsheathed my new deadly partner; seeing that the blade was a pitch black that looked as if it could swallow up anything that touched it.

Moving around the bed to the open area of the room, I started a pattern dance that we had learned in zanjutsu class. As the dance wore on, I kept getting faster and faster until my blade was a black blur.

"I see you have no trouble with your zanpakuto."

I let out a very undignified "yelp" and damn near dropped my sword. I turned around to find none other than Unohana Reitsu, taicho of the forth division.

I was having so much fun with Houna that I didn't realize someone had entered, but here she was, staring at me with a kind smile on her face.

I immediately dropped into a bow.

"I'm sorry, I didn't notice you had come in, Unohana-taicho."

"It's quite alright, Karin-san. I enjoyed watching you, but if you don't mind I would like to make sure your reiatsu is coming back as it should. Though from the looks of things, I'm sure it's more than fine."

She told me as she motioned for me to sit back on the bed.

I sheathed Houna and came back to sit down like she wanted me to, sitting Houna down next to me though. Unohana was in front of me in a moment, holding up a glowing hand to my forehead.

After a moment or two she took her hand away. She seemed to have a perplexed look on her face.

"Well it seems that you have completely recovered. And quite quickly I might add. As I said yesterday, it usually takes two or three days for a new student to get back to normal after what you went through, but you're better in a matter of ten hours. I must say that I am surprised."

"I slept for ten hours?!" I blurted out. "I never sleep for that long!"

Her eyebrows raised a bit at my outburst.

"Then it seems your body must have needed to rest," she calmly replied.

Before I could ask her anything else, Hanatarou came in the room holding another tray of food.

"Excuse me Unohana-taicho, but I brought Karin-san her food." The sixth seat politely told his taicho.

"Very good," she told him, then turned to me and added, "after you have eaten have Hanatarou bring you to my office."

"Hai," I replied with a slight bow as she briskly walked out of the room.

Hanatarou handed me the tray of food saying he would just be down the hall and to come get him when I was done. He too turned and also left the room, leaving me to think about the different things that have happened in the last 24 hours.

When they were both gone I slumped back onto the bed, and set the tray on my lap and started eating. As I was eating I could feel a familiar energy coming from behind me. It seemed to be farther away though. I turned around a little so as not to spill the food, but enough to look out of the window in a hope of finding the source of this welcomed but sad feeling. The energy drew my eyes to a tree in the court yard a little way away from the window.

How I have missed the feeling I got from the feel of his energy that was coming from the tree. He must have stayed there for quite a while for the feeling to be this strong. Maybe he was out there all night watching out for me.

No, he won't do that ever again. I've hurt him too much for him to ever really look at me the same again, let alone watch out for me.

I tried to eat more, but I lost my appetite. Thoughts of him were now too fresh in my mind to let me be. From what I could tell the short time I saw him last night he had gotten taller again. It now looked like he was taller than Rangiku-san.

Last night I was too shocked over my sister to really think about it, but now I can, I have no idea why he was there. Why did he even bother to show up to see me? I never thought I would see him again, and if I did I thought for sure he would hate me for what I did to him. But it looked as if he didn't want to leave. I thought I saw something in his eyes that said he still cared for me. Maybe I was just delusional from sleep deprivation.

In truth I didn't want him to leave either. I wish I could talk to him about why I did what I did, but Rangiku-san was there too. And I know he never told anyone about us and he really wouldn't want her to know now. I wonder if I will ever get to talk to him again or not?

Kami-sama I have missed him! After I shoved him away I lost it. Each day was a roller costar ride of emotions for me. One moment I would be putting on my play smile and everything would be as fine as it could be, or at least to the outside eye, the next I would be crying, or I would be so out of it I would snap at anyone that so much as looked at me.

Goat-face tried to send me to talk to a counselor, but it never helped. Not that I would ever talk to one under normal circumstances, but I couldn't even talk to her about what was really going on because she probably would have sent me to a mental institution.

Finally, after a year, I learned how to lock away all my feelings. I made it to where I was the only one that had to deal with them now. There were many times when I almost lost it again, but I fought to keep them in side.

To my family and friends I went back to being the normal Karin, but at night when I was by myself, the feelings never left me alone. In the end the only things that kept me going were the thoughts of Toushirou being able to stay a taicho because I knew that his taicho position was something he loves greatly. If I had allowed him to give it up for me I knew that it would torture him for the rest of time. I heard from dad that Shinigami that left to live with a human would never be allowed back into soul society, even when that lover died. What would he do when I was gone?

I couldn't let him ruin his live for me. The second thing that kept me going was the picture we took the last day together. I knew it was evil of me to do what I did that day, but I was selfish and wanted one last good memory of him, so I made a whole day of plans for just the two of us.

We went to lunch, then an early movie, then went and played soccer, and finally ate diner at the amusement park and played there until it closed. It was there that we took the picture. That next day was the hardest and most horrible day of my life! I believe parts of my soul died that day when I saw the deadpan look on Toushirou's face. That look haunted my dreams until I died.

When something wet splashed on my hand, that I was drawn out of my memories of the past. When I looked down to see what hit my hand, I realized my vision was blurry.

Damn it! I was crying again! I quickly wiped my eyes on my sleeves before I have to go find Hanatarou so he could take me to Unohana-taicho. Before I stood to leave, I picked up my zanpakuto and then walked out the door.

Readers POV

"Rukia, this can't be happening!"

"Ichigo, calm down, it will be alright!"

"No it won't. She's going to kill me. How can I go back there and see her like this?"

Ichigo slumped down onto the bed, putting his face in his hands to hide the fact that he was crying. Rukia had no clue as to what to do for her love, so she just sat down next to him and put her arms around him.

Well there you have it. I know it repeated some stuff from the last chapter, but it kind of needed to happen.

As always thank you to those that reviewed and to those that added it to their story alerts and favorites. It's true what most people say that reviews make the writer keep writing. Thanks for all the support!

Link to what Houna looks like and to what Karin and Toushirou look like now will be on my profile.

Until next time,

Jaa!