Gosh, I don't know what to say, I seriously cannot say sorry enough. I really didn't plan to take this long to update. I fell ill, kinda recovered went to school and fell ill again. To give you an idea I seriously struggled to read simple sentences so writing was out of the question. And school is super important at the moment, because if I fail my exams this year I can't get into a decent college (and therefore a decent university) so yeah, no pressure. XD The updates might slow down a bit now (Although saying that there will be another two chapters max) because school's started again. That and I've managed to get involved in performing an eight minute long dance mix. That'll be fun XD So yeah, I'm kinda stretched thin at the moment, but I don't wrap this story up by my half term break I deserve a slap XD So yeah, I really am sorry, and I do plan to finish the story kinda soon. I can't really give you a timescale as such though. Too many factors D: But anyway, onwords! (You know, this might be my longest chapter, although I'm not sure XD)
Review Replies:
Bleached-Whale: Oh yes yes, her Zanpakto is a light-based one! I will forever love Yoona, I want a kid like her ='D That's the thing with Karin I'm sure she could probably do well in most squads, she has always given me an impression of someone with a range of skills, so it's going to be hard to finally choose which one she'll go into (I think I've decided, but I'm not sure XD) If I do hint at any other pairings (I try my hardest not to because I don't want to put other people off or offend them with my choices XD They came to read HitsuKarin not another one, know what I mean? ^^;) it'll probably be IchiRuki. They just click if you ask me XD I'm glad you liked it so much but wow. You seriously excused yourself from your class to read it? I CANNOT EVEN. I don't know how to feel XD I hope you like this chapter, and I'm sorry for the long wait!
Every shadow has its twin: I'm glad you liked the last chapter and I hop you enjoy this chapter too! Like I said, sorry about the wait ^^;
Bara-san: Lord do I know that feeling. School's pretty tough on me at the moment. I hope you like this next chapter! Sorry for the wait!
Nightsparrow15: I swear you and Bleached-Whale compete for writing the best reviews. I actually laughed out loud when I read that first line. Yeah, I don't like Aizen, he's rather sick. I was the same with my brothers XD I managed to get all three of them into anime ='D They really are easy to influence. I can't exactly say too much on the Aizen stuff, you'll just have to read! Ho crap. You found a trunk. Time to run! I hope yo ulike this chapter, and I'm sorry for the wait!
Twistedkorn: I'm glad you liked the last chapter! I hope you enjoy this one too, sorry for the wait!
Chapter 13: Motherhood
Tōshirō sighed, feeling a migraine coming on. Due to Karin wanting, and quite frankly needing to train he was currently looking after Yoona and he had seriously underestimated how much patience it took. Karin had gone to the training grounds before Yoona had even woken up so that left Tōshirō to deal with a lot. He had to sort out the bedsheets and Yoona because she had accidentally wet the bed, he had to cook her (and himself) breakfast which was difficult because Yoona wanted to touch everything and now she had drawn on some of his paperwork, meaning that he would have to start all over again. Well ok, none of it was exactly her fault, considering how young she was. Tōshirō estimated that she was two, maybe three years old. Of course she didn't have complete control over her bladder, especially seeing as she was sleeping in a new room. That sort of thing unnerves a child. Wanting to touch everything? Again, of course she wants to, it's how a child learns. As for the paperwork, that was partly Tōshirō's fault. He asked her if she could entertain herself for a while to which she said yes. Next thing he saw was Yoona drawing on paper. Firstly, he left it lying around because he didn't think it would be an issue, and secondly, he didn't think about where she got the paper from, despite knowing at the back of his mind that his paperwork was the only paper in the ward. By the time Karin had come back from training Tōshirō felt like crawling into bed, truly exhausted.
"You look like hell."
"Rin, I feel like hell. How do you do it?"
Karin raised her eyebrow. "Do what?"
"Look after her so easily!"
Karin tried her hardest not to laugh. "Did you struggle that much?"
Tōshirō dead-panned. "Looking after a child is hard."
"Oh I don't deny that Tōsh...What's she drawing on?"
"My now useless paperwork." Karin laughed. "See it's stuff like this I'm talking about. I didn't even think about it, and yet you asked that question straight away."
Karin lent against Tōshirō, her head resting on his shoulder. "Oh don't beat yourself up about it. Kids do this sort of thing. When Yuzu and I were younger we used to draw on the walls. My dad had to repaint our bedroom...Twice."
"You did not draw on the walls, you have got to be kidding me."
"I'm not!"
"Well...that makes this seem a little..."
"Easier to deal with?"
"Yeah."
Yoona ran up to both of them, rather excited. "Look look! Look what I drawed!"
Karin took the paper from Yoona while correcting her sentence. "You're supposed to say look what I drew...Oh this is sweet! Is this the three of us?"
Yoona nodded. "Uh-huh!" Tōshirō peered over her shoulder, looking at the drawing. He smiled at the paper. Karin took the drawing and set it on the table, planning on sticking it up somewhere later. "Unnie I'm tired!"
"Join the club Yoona."
Karin laughed at Tōshirō's response. "You should take a nap then. Both of you. I'm gonna go see Captain Unohana, she wants regular updates on my training and that sort of thing. Tōshirō nodded and waved her goodbye.
After Karin had talked to Unohana they decided to come back to the ward together, as the captain wanted to do a quick check up on Yoona while she wasn't busy. Karin gasped the second she walked into the main room, and started to speak in a quiet voice. "Oh wow. Oh my gosh, Captain do you have a camera? I actually need proof that this happened." Karin and Unohana had managed to come across a very rare sight. Tōshirō was sprawled across the sofa, with a children's book on the floor and Yoona sleeping on top of him. Unohana was genuinely too shocked to do or say anything, although she didn't let it show. After not getting a response from Unohana Karin quietly walked over and picked Yoona up, intending to move the little girl into her bed. She knew that Tōshirō moved around in his sleep sometimes and if he wasn't careful Yoona could fall off. After she was safely in Karin's bed Unohana started to do a quick medical check, and after she found she was in good health she left.
Karin started to tidy up a bit in the main room, the chaos from this morning was obvious from the mess. She stopped briefly to look at Tōshirō. It was so weird. She genuinely felt like a mother; the feeling had snuck up on her so quickly and quietly she hadn't noticed until she saw Yoona sleeping on Tōshirō. For some reason that image really drove it home. They were practically like a family, but it was really weird. Most people got really close, eventually got married and had children at some point later. They only met occasionally for a couple years, and then a couple of months ago they started living together. She shouldn't feel like they were a family, and yet after all the crap they went through, (well technically still going through) she really did feel like were a family. But was that wrong? She already had a family...or had she grown out of it? People grew up and left home, often to start their own family...Had she already started doing that? Karin had absolutely no idea, and she continued to clean, trying to push the migraine-inducing thoughts out of her head.
After half an hour or so, while Karin was cleaning the table, Tōshirō started to wake up, groaning slightly as his eyes tried to adjust to the light. "Ugh...Yoona?"
Karin answered while walking towards him. "I put her in my bed. Feel better now that you've had a nap?"
Tōshirō nodded groggily. "How did it go with Captain Unohana?"
Karin pushed Tōshirō's legs gently so he'd move them to let her sit down next to him. "Fine. She checked Yoona, and she's pretty much perfect...Although I should probably tell you...She kinda saw you sleeping with Yoona on you."
"Oh crap. I have a feeling a couple of certain shinigami are not gonna let that go..."
Karin smiled in amusement. "What could they possibly say? Being able to look after children is a good skill surely?"
"No no, it's not that. It's the fact that I'm looking after a kid with you."
"Oh...oh. People still don't know we're...together."
"...Do we even know what our relationship is?"
Karin shook her head. "It's certainly complicated. With all of the crap we've gone through girlfriend and boyfriend seems so...not right."
"Too trivial."
"Exactly."
"Well...I say we get through all of this Aizen stuff, and then we think about it. Making sure you're safe is more important."
"Tōsh, I'll be fine."
"Just...make sure that you are ok? I already lost you once...I can't..." Karin nodded, understanding what he was getting at.
XxXxXxXxXxX
It had been over a week since it was decided that Karin would use herself to make Aizen weaker and still nothing. Karin could feel it coming closer though. At one point she theorized that there was a possibility that herself and Aizen had made some sort of mental connection, but she pushed the idea out of her head the second she thought of it, the theory disgusting her. Tōshirō, Karin and Yoona had managed to fall into a routine, finally being able to balance work, rest, training, play and teaching (Yoona). Well that routine worked when they didn't receive any visitors. It appeared that Rangiku had taken a real shine to Yoona and wanted to play with her as much as she could, which was great and all, but neither Tōshirō or Karin appreciated her being exceedingly drunk if she was going to be around Yoona all the time. Rangiku was a good person, but being drunk all the time? Not a good example.
At the moment Tōshirō was attempting to complete his paperwork but it proved to be difficult, as he was exhausted. He had found it difficult to sleep ever since Karin had chosen to offer herself as bait. He found himself listening closely at night, ready to react if Karin screamed, knowing from experience that if she was struggling that was her way of asking for help. Being on edge like that prevented him from sleeping properly, and he only ever managed a couple of hours if he was lucky. Karin walked into the main room where Tōshirō was, wearing her pyjamas. Tōshirō looked up and smiled sadly. The worry in his eyes did not go unnoticed by Karin. "Tōsh. I told you I'll be fine."
Tōshirō nodded, not looking up, fearing he'll have some sort of breakdown if he dared look at her face. He had a bad feeling about tonight. "I know...I'm sure you will be. I'm just...scared."
Karin leant against Tōshirō, resting her head on his shoulder. "Don't worry Tōsh. I'll still be here and myself tomorrow morning. I promise you."
Tōshirō finally willed himself to look at her. "You can feel it too."
Karin nodded. "Yeah...I think it's gonna happen tonight."
Tōshirō sent a quick message to Suì-Fēng before turning his attention back to Karin. "You'll be ok."
Karin could tell he was trying to convince himself more than anything else and she wove her fingers into his. "I know I will be." She shifted slightly so she could kiss him gently on the lips. A smile threatened to break out at the gesture. Before they knew it the pair of them had fallen asleep, both of them being exhausted, with Tōshirō's arms around Karin, similar positions to when he fell asleep with Yoona.
XxXxXxXxXxX
Suì-Fēng was grateful to Tōshirō warning her beforehand. According to his message both Karin and himself thought it would be today, which gave the group an advantage, being able to surround Aizen's cell, patiently waiting for him to slip into a less concious state. They were able to hide themselves, so Aizen couldn't tell that they were planning to ambush him. The entire group felt tense, knowing full well that this could be the night Aizen is finally defeated, by their hands no less. Renji had a slight look of nervousness, but it was overshadowed by his determination. Ikkaku and Kenpachi looked bored out of their minds, the two of them wanting to go into his cell already, but understanding how stupid that course of action would be. The rest of the group simply looked indifferent, all of them masking their emotions completely.
XxXxXxXxXxX
Karin was sitting up on the crescent moon with her Zanpaktō looking down on her inner world. No matter how you looked at it, it was beautiful. She idly wondered how she could have such a place of beauty inside her. When Karin noticed how tense her Zanpaktō was she rolled her eyes. "Trust me, when he attacks I'll be sure to let you know."
Her Zanpaktō didn't seem all too pleased with her attitude. "What is wrong with you? You do realise what's going to happen? It caused you agony last time. How can you possibly not care?"
Karin sighed heavily before answering. "I have to. If I get myself all worked up and worried I'll end up bailing the second he attacks. I'm not like Ichigo who can just charge at anything at succeed. I gotta think about things, and I have stay strong. It's not an automatic thing like his seems to be."
"Are you seriously beating yourself up because your brother seems to be able to gain power at the snap of his fingers and you can't?"
"...A little. It's annoying! Why do I have to work to get things? I suppose it's just typical sibling rivalry stuff. I mean, Yuzu's always been content staying at the back doing her own thing, but Ichigo and I have always fought."
Her Zanpaktō smiled slightly. "Karin, thinking about things, working hard to get them, everything that you are will make you a better fighter than him."
"Huh? But he's ridiculously good."
"No. He's ridiculously powerful. Have you ever noticed it in training? He causes more destruction, but you defeat the opponent quicker because you think about things and plan. Yes he will probably always be able to defeat you if he wanted to, but that doesn't make him a better fighter. Your fighting styles are completely different, so it's hard to compare the two."
Karin nodded slowly while thinking. "I guess you're right. Our fighting styles are completely different. I'm not all that good with a sword."
"Well that's what training is for. Besides you've been using hand to hand combat for years now. I believe I'm correct in saying it's your preferred method of combat?"
Karin nodded. "It's easier. It comes more naturally to me."
"I'm not surprised. Like I already said, you've been fighting hand to hand for years, it will come naturally to you. It's going to take a little while for you to get used to that sudden extension on your arm. Usually your hand is what makes contact with your opponent, and all of a sudden the thing that makes contact is what, a metre away? You'll get there."
"Thanks for having faith in me."
Her Zanpaktō smiled at her like a mother would smile at her child. "Honey, how could I not have faith in you. You're a very strong person."
"No I'm not."
Her Zanpaktō sighed. "I don't understand all these people who say you're like your brother. The two of you are very different. He's cocky, and you have no self confidence."
"If I was stronger Aizen wouldn't have been able to screw with my head in the first place."
"Ok now you're being stupid. No one can really stand up to Aizen properly. Besides it didn't bother you this much before. What's changed? Why are you suddenly so worried about being strong?"
Karin jumped down from the moon and walked over to the clearing with a lake before sitting down again. "It's nothing."
Her Zanpaktō rolled her eyes before joining her. She put her hand on Karin's shoulder. "Honey, if you can't tell me who can you tell? I'm the one who understands you the most."
"Except maybe Tōshirō."
A quiet laugh escaped from the Zanpaktō's lips. "Indeed. So what's up?"
"It's just...I was thinking the other day. I was thinking about what would happen if I actually lost control and Aizen took over." After her Zanpaktō visibly tensed Karin reassured her. "I'm not going to let that happen. It's just...well if it did, Tōshirō would survive. I know it would hurt a lot at first, but I have no doubt that he would pick himself up, dust himself off and continue to get stronger and look after Yoona. I don't think I could do that if it was the other way round."
Karin's Zanpaktō had listened quietly the whole time, which Karin was grateful for. "Oh you silly thing." Before Karin could respond her Zanpaktō pulled her into a gentle hug. "I don't doubt that Tōshirō would be able to move on either, but trust me when I say it would take him decades. I've seen the way he looks at you, there is nothing but love and admiration for you. I also don't doubt that you would move on eventually too if something were to happen to him. I've already told you that you're strong. I'm proud to have you as my wielder. If nothing else the need to look after Yoona would allow you to carry on. You're a good mother."
Karin looked up at her Zanpaktō in surprise. "I'm not a mother."
"You're as good as." Karin stayed silent so her Zanpaktō continued. "You look after her like an expert. You can balance work and her so well already. Although I don't know if that would be more difficult when you get more children."
Karin honestly had to stop herself from choking on her own saliva. "More?"
Her Zanpaktō couldn't help but grin at the reaction. "Of course. Think about it Karin. You want children, Tōshirō told you that he wanted children, so surely you're going to have children in the future."
"I...I haven't really thought about it..."
Her Zanpaktō smirked. "Yes you have. There's no point lying to me."
Karin's cheeks started to turn red. "Ok so maybe I have. But...that's not gonna be for ages. Years in fact."
"You sure?"
Karin turned redder. "Of course! Besides..."
"Besides what?"
"It's...It's not like we've gone any further...than kissing" Karin mumbled the last part, causing her Zanpaktō to smile. She thought is was adorable that she was this shy about such matters.
Karin's Zanpaktō spoke a littler quieter, even though they were obviously alone. "And just how long is that going to last?" Karin, now bright red, glared at her Zanpaktō, which caused her to laugh. "Gosh you're so easy to mess with!"
Karin huffed. "You're an awful woman you know that?"
Her Zanpaktō laughed harder for a short while before stopping abruptly. She sighed.
"What's wrong? Is he here?"
Her Zanpaktō nodded. "He's approaching. Prepare yourself." Karin nodded, her eyes full of determination.
XxXxXxXxXxX
The group of shinigami watched Aizen carefully (well, some more than others) and had felt like giving up until they noticed his blinking had slowed. Every time he closed his eyes they stayed closed longer than the last time. The group waited for Aizen's eyes to close more permanently, somewhat eager to get this over with. Eventually after a good 10 minutes Aizen showed no sign of opening his eyes again for a while. Carefully and quietly they removed the defences around him and slipped into the room and put the defences back up again as quickly as they could, knowing full well that the longer they left the defences down the more vulnerable Karin would be. The group moved around the cell so that they were surrounding Aizen at vaguely equal distances, with Kenpachi and Renji near the front of him.
XxXxXxXxXxX
Unfortunately removing and replacing the defences around Aizen was no quick task, or at least it certainly didn't feel like it to Karin. It was taking all of her strength not to cry out. She was seriously struggling and her Zanpaktō could only do so much without forcing her to scream, an action she knew Karin didn't want to do yet. She had started rubbing comforting circles in her back, staying close to her to let her know that her Zanpaktō was there to help her the entire time. While Karin would never admit it, she absolutely hated being alone. She always liked having someone around. Karin had honestly only ever been alone at the start of her first year in middle school. The school thought that there was a possibility that the twins could distract each other or argue with each other in class so they separated them into two different ones. Karin had found the first couple of weeks absolutely dreadful before her new found friendships had developed to a point where she could trust them properly. Just knowing her Zanpaktō was there helped Karin out a lot.
XxXxXxXxXxX
Tōshirō had been woken suddenly and it took him a second to figure out what was going on. Karin and himself had fallen asleep together, Karin on top of him, who was now thrashing like a fish out of water. It took all of his self control not to force her to wake up, but he knew that wasn't what she wanted. He held her tightly around her waist and sat up, making her sit up too. He held her tightly, making sure she didn't fall off the sofa or damage her neck. He positioned Karin so she was sitting on his lap, her neck being supported by his right collarbone and he started playing with her hair gently. Tōshirō knew from watching the occasional family arguments that the best way to calm Karin down was to mess around with her hair. Whenever Karin was particularly wound up, usually caused by her father's immaturity, Yuzu played with and styled Karin's hair, and more often then not it calmed her down. After a short while of doing this Karin's movement had lessened, but she was still thrashing.
XxXxXxXxXxX
Kenpachi and Renji were standing near to Aizen, ready to strike on the second squad captain's mark. Kenpachi wasn't one for waiting on other's orders but he understand the importance of this mission. He'd die before he let anyone know it, but he was worried. It wasn't like Karin was weak. If Aizen had gotten it into his head that younger girls were the easiest to attack what was to stop him from attacking Yachiru? She was strong, but she still had a child's mind, he wondered if she would even notice if he tried anything before it was too late. It was disgusting in Kenpachi's opinion. While he didn't look like it, there were some actions and behaviour that he simply didn't care for. Rape and torture were actually pretty high on his list. He didn't care about gender, appearance, personality or whatever else you could think of. He just cared about strength. There was something about deliberately searching to find a young woman to use that he simply did not condone. He briefly wondered if it was from looking after Yachiru, he had seen her discriminated against purely because she was female, before pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind, they were things to think about when he wasn't busy.
It was lucky that Kenpachi had started paying attention when he did, otherwise he could've easily missed Suì-Fēng's gesture. Quicker than most shinigami could even blink he rushed forward and sliced through Aizen vertically, although not quite all the way. The action had caused Aizen to withdraw from Karin's mind to try and heal himself. Renji, already having released his shikai, lunged forward, extending his Zanpaktō. Due to Zabimaru's abilities it was easy for Renji to latch onto Aizen's heart and yank it out of his body, causing him to scream in pain. After half an hour Aizen's body had managed to fuse itself back together, but without his heart he died every 2 seconds. The group worked quickly, slicing his body into further pieces, each member of the group going to bury their body piece miles away from any other piece.
XxXxXxXxXxX
Tōshirō almost had a heart attack when Karin suddenly stopped moving. If it wasn't for the fact that he could see her chest moving up and down he would've thought she was dead. He had to take several deep breaths before he dared to do anything. Half scared out of his mind he shook her lightly. She was either under Aizen's control or completely free from him, and he was terrified to find out which. He took another deep breath before shaking her again, harder this time. When she startled to mumble Tōshirō found that he actually had to tell his body to breathe. Nervously he spoke. "What did you say Rin?"
She opened her eyes a fraction and glared at the man she was lying on. "I said, if you dare to shake me again, I will tell Rangiku where you've been hiding her sake from her." Karin couldn't help but smile when she heard Tōshirō's huge sigh of relief. "I told you I'd be fine. Now shut up and let me sleep, I'm exhausted and I have a headache." After that Tōshirō fell asleep pretty quickly, with a smile on his face. Karin had woken as herself and she hadn't screamed, that could only mean that Aizen was finally defeated.
XxXxXxXxXxX
Tōshirō woke up to the smell of breakfast. He was half asleep until a certain little girl decided to jump on his stomach. "Ugh. Really Yoona? Really?" Karin's laughter grabbed his attention. He had honestly thought he had lost her for a moment and after seeing her this morning all he wanted to do was to hold her tight and never let go. Just when Tōshirō thought he understood Karin's sheer amount of beauty all she did was grin at him and he felt himself go weak. He couldn't help but practically gawk at her. He hadn't seen her so happy in months and she was celebrating her happiness with her appearance, although she may not have noticed.
For the first time in years she was wearing a dress, which reached the middle of her thighs, the rest of her thigh was covered with white leggings which contrasted beautifully with her midnight blue dress. When he studied her hair he suddenly realised that she usually styled it. He had always thought she naturally had straight hair, but she had left her hair alone this morning and it's wavy style looked way more natural then her straight hair. Tōshirō smiled to himself. She always said that she took after her father, but he had to disagree. Because Karin had been so busy her hair had been neglected so it had grown from her normal mid-back length to lower down her back. Except for the fact that Karin's hair was black she was pretty much the spitting image of her mother.
While they were in the middle of breakfast they were visited by Unohana, who couldn't resist smiling at the scene. Not only did Yoona have food in her hair, so did Tōshirō who must have been helping her to eat while Karin had gone to answer the door. It wouldn't surprise Unohana if Yoona had managed to get more food on her than in her. "I see she's not too skilled in eating messier foods yet?"
Tōshirō sighed in slight embarrassment. "Quite."
Karin laughed. "Maybe we shouldn't let her feed herself yet? At least not when it comes to runny food."
Unohana answered Karin's questions. "I wouldn't do that. She does need to learn after all."
Karin sighed. "I suppose that's true. Looking after a kid is messy."
Unohana nodded in agreement. "Well I'm glad to see you're all in high spirits. Can I assume that you know what happened last night?" Karin and Tōshirō nodded, Yoona after seeing what her caretakers were doing also nodded, earning a wider smile from Unohana. "Yes well, if you don't mind I'd like to perform a couple of quick tests to make sure you're completely ok Karin."
"Oh sure!" Karin got up from her seat and followed Unohana out of the ward.
Tōshirō sighed and he continued to try and get food in Yoona. "She left me alone with you again. I swear one of these days she's going to come back to utter destruction."
"Hey Oppa! I'm not that bad!"
XxXxXxXxXxX
The 'couple of quick tests' took a lot longer than Unohana had implied. 5 hours later Karin was finally allowed to go back to the ward, but not before Unohana had told her she is now free to go where she wants. Karin couldn't help but think that was her subtle way of asking her to move out, but she couldn't blame the captain. It was weird though. She had gotten so used to living with Tōshirō that the idea of going back to live with her family seemed weird. But then, where else was she supposed to go?
Karin entered the ward to find Ichigo, Rukia and Renji had come to visit. All three of the shinigami greeted her with smiles. "Hey guys!"
Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "You're wearing a dress?"
"Hey I wear what I want."
Ichigo grinned, Karin was completely back to normal and free again. "Fair enough." Renji spoke up. "So, how do you feel?"
"More relieved than anything else to be honest. Thanks for helping out and stuff."
Renji grinned. "Hey, just doing my job. Captain Commander's orders!"
Rukia rolled her eyes. "Yes because you've always followed his orders so dutifully."
"Yes, because you're one to talk."
"Touché."
XxXxXxXxXxX
Karin sighed happily and she let herself fall back onto the grass. Tōshirō and Rukia was looking after Yoona inside, while Renji had to go. Karin wouldn't be surprised if he was off to start partying. A lot of the shinigami were. Ichigo sat down next to her and put a hand on her shoulder to make sure she knew he was there. "Hey."
"Hey Ichi-nii."
"So...you can go where you want now. I take it you're planning on moving out of the ward soon?"
"Definitely. I feel bad for staying here so long. It's not even our ward, it's Captain Ukitake's.
Ichigo nodded. "True. So where are you going?"
"Huh? I don't really have a choice do I? I'm just gonna go back home with Dad and Yuzu."
Ichigo nodded again while scratching the back of his head. He sighed heavily, not believing he was actually going to do this. "It's just, I've been thinking. I don't think it would be good for Yoona if you...lived separate from Tōshirō, it would be like you''re a divorced couple or something. I mean, I'm not saying that kids whose parents have separated turn out worse or anything, there are plenty of great kids in those situations I just think it would be more beneficial if-"
Karin interrupted him. "Stop rambling you awkward, awkward man. Is this your way of giving me permission to live with Tōsh if I choose."
Ichigo sighed again. "...No. This isn't me giving you permission...You don't need to ask for permission. You're 15 now. At that age, I pretty much invaded Soul Society, tore it up a lot to get Rukia, then ended up invading Hueco Mundo, tore that place up a lot to get Inoue. I did want I wanted and what I felt was right. And...To be honest, I think you've been more than capable of doing that for a couple years now. I'm not giving you permission. I suppose this is me giving you my blessing."
Karin grinned before hugging Ichigo tightly and speaking in a joking sort of tone. "And there was me thinking you'd never let me go!"
Ichigo returned the hug and the tone of voice. "Yeah well, if Dad found out that I was the person who stopped you from having a boyfriend then he'd skin me alive."
Karin withdrew herself from the hug to look up at Ichigo. "That's a good point, Dad and Yuzu haven't met Yoona yet."
"Yeah well when you do take her to meet them give the poor girl ear plugs. Yuzu will squeal knowing her."
Karin laughed. "I'll keep that in mind."
XxXxXxXxXxX
Tōshirō had his hands behind his head acting like a pillow while he was lying on the sofa. After all of the excitement of the day he was well and truly spent. Karin, knowing that he wasn't asleep, practically jumped onto his lap, earning a groan from him. "At least warn me next time."
"Oh please, you could've stopped me if you wanted to."
Tōshirō shifted so he was a little more upright. "So how are you? Tired?"
"I'm exhausted. You?"
"Same."
They stayed like that in comfortable silence for a couple of minutes before Karin built up the nerve to speak. "We should probably move out of here soon, now that I can go anywhere again."
Tōshirō nodded. "I take it you're gonna go back to your family?"
"You sound depressed."
"What? No, no. It's just-"
"Tōsh?"
Tōshirō was kind of glad that she interrupted him. "Yeah?"
"Ichigo suggested something earlier. Well, more like hinted."
"What?"
"Well he said it wouldn't do Yoona any good if we were separated, and let's face it, it's gonna be difficult for me to balance training and Yoona on my own and it would be difficult for you to balance her and work and-"
"You know, both you and your brother ramble when you're nervous."
"Oh shut up."
"Rin?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you want to...Live together? Well, continue living together?"
"...Yes."
XxXxXxXxXxX
It had been a couple days since Aizen had been defeated and pretty much every shinigami was still celebrating. Tōshirō had gone off to visit Hinamori while Karin and Yoona had gone back to Karin's family's house to start packing up her stuff. Karin didn't know how her father and Yuzu would react, but both of them were absolutely overjoyed. Turns out that Yuzu had been rooting for the two of them to get together for years now and her dad? He seriously could not be happier and was already requesting grandchildren. Currently he was playing around with Yoona, who according to him, was his first grandchild. Yuzu was helping Karin to organise her stuff, ready to pack up. Karin had to hand it to her, while Yuzu hadn't exactly become the strongest woman she knew, she was certainly getting there. She wasn't easy to mess with any more and she hadn't threatened to cry or anything of the sort when Karin told her she wasn't really coming back, which is what Karin expected. Both twins were proud of the other.
By the end of the day they had managed to sort out under half of Karin's stuff which was impressive considering how sentimental they got over certain objects. Karin swore they spent more time reminiscing rather than working. Yuzu left Karin's bedroom to start cooking dinner. Karin was finishing packing up another box when Isshin knocked on her open bedroom door. "Hey Karin."
Karin looked up with a smile. "Hey Dad. Where's Yoona?"
"Asleep on the sofa."
"She didn't give you any trouble did she?"
Isshin grinned. "No, she's an angel, cheeky, but still an angel. Reminds me of a certain someone!"
Karin laughed. "I wasn't that bad!"
"Sure you weren't."
Karin smiled and gestured for her father to sit down on the bed next to her, glad that he wasn't in one of his ridiculous moods. "So Dad, now that Yuzu and Yoona aren't here, how do you really feel about me moving in with Tōshirō?"
"Are you kidding me? I honestly couldn't be happier. When you first told me this morning I was a little sceptical, but during today you removed my scepticism."
"How?"
"Let me put it this way, when you left this house to live in the human world I still saw you as a child, but obviously I wanted you to stay safe so I let you go with Tōshirō. But now? There's no way I could think of you as a child any more. You've grown up a lot since then."
"I...Hadn't noticed."
"Well you wouldn't. Often you'd get a little worked up or irritated if I act too silly, but you stayed calm the entire day and the way you look after Yoona, to me, it's obvious that you've grown up."
Karin nodded slowly taking in this new information. She honestly hadn't noticed, she was too busy trying to do everything else. Her thoughts were interrupted by Isshin speaking again. "Say Karin, why have you stopped straightening your hair?"
"Oh, it's nothing. It's a stupid reason really. You'll think I'm silly."
"I doubt that."
Karin sighed. "...Well, do you remember that day years ago when we went up into the attic to try and find Ichigo's old bike so I could use it? The day when we ended up looking at old photos more than anything else and we found those old photos of mum?"
"The ones where she's what 16, 17?"
"Yeah."
"I remember."
"That wasn't too long after mum had died, and I remember being really happy that I had inherited something from her, because I had straight hair too, or at least that's what I remember thinking. I asked you why her hair was straight back then and you told me that she styled it in a way while she was drying it that it went straight, but after she gave birth to Ichigo she didn't have time to do that any more so she always left her hair wavy after that."
"Yes, I remember."
"Well back then I always wanted to be like mum, so I decided that I would keep my hair straight until I was a mother, although I had forgotten about that until recently. When he hair started to go a bit wavy if felt wrong so I straightened it instead. A couple days ago it kinda just hit me that I feel like a mother now, because of Yoona and...Ugh I don't know how to explain it...I guess I must've linked wavy hair with motherhood or something when I was little because now I can look in the mirror and my wavy doesn't look weird any more."
Isshin smiled. "That's not silly. Strange, but not silly. I don't think you realise, you take after her in a lot of ways."
"Really?"
"Yep, you didn't know her when she was younger but I certainly did! You're actually pretty similar. Now, why don't we go help Yuzu with dinner and wake Yoona up so she can eat?"
Karin grinned and got up from the bed. "Dad?"
"Yes?"
"Thanks."
"For what?"
"Just...Thanks." Isshin smiled at her before going down the stairs.
XxXxXxXxXxX
While it probably would've been easier to just stay at her family's house, Karin wanted Yoona to get familiar with Tōshirō's house so, with Yoona in her arms, she shunpoed towards his office. Shunpo was a skill Karin had managed to pick up quickly; she imagined it was due to the fact that she had spent half her life running. In the second Karin had entered Tōshirō's office she almost dropped Yoona. "Oh my god. What on earth happened here?"
Tōshirō's voice made her jump. "Matsumoto. Need I say more?"
"I agree that Aizen's defeat is a cause for celebration but holy s-"
"Yoona's here"
"Sugar canes. Yes. Holy sugar canes." Tōshirō raised his eyebrow. "Don't look at me like that! Seriously, how even?"
"Never underestimate my Vice-Captain."
Karin had to tread carefully to get any where near Tōshirō's desk, the entire office was a tip and she didn't really feel like tripping over empty bottles of sake. "Does she usually use your office as a place to party?"
"She's been known to do it before. But never as bad as this."
Karin sighed. "Well it's late, you don't wanna start on this now, besides I want Yoona to explore your house."
"Our house."
Karin couldn't help but grin. "Oh yeah. Our house. Have you even eaten yet?"
Tōshirō shook his head. "Haven't had the chance yet, and I'm not gonna have any decent food in the house seeing as I haven't been there in ages."
Karin nodded while lifting Yoona higher on her body, she kept trying to slip down, but Karin didn't want to put her down when there could be broken glass anywhere. "Ok, we'll go to your-I mean our house and get ourselves settled while you get yourself some food."
"Rin, don't worry about it, I'll survive. Besides do you even know where the house is?"
"It can't be too far, I was under the impression that the Captains tend to live pretty near to their office."
"It's about a five minute walk."
"So take us there, let us get in the house and then you can go off and get food. I'm not letting you miss a meal, now stop being a pain."
Tōshirō sighed, knowing that Karin wasn't giving him a choice in the matter. He took Karin and Yoona to the house and left to get food for him and breakfast for tomorrow. Karin was slightly surprised when she walked into the house. It wasn't huge, but it certainly wasn't small. It was probably bigger than her family's house. Except for the layer of dust that was everywhere, everything seemed to be immaculate. Karin looked at the now sleeping girl in her arms. 'That's not gonna last long.' Karin walked up the stairs to find a bed before she did anything else.
XxXxXxXxXxX
Karin looked round the house in complete fascination. She had never set a foot here before, and it was gorgeous to say the least. The large living room was a strange shade of cream which made the entire room feel open with matching carpet. The room had a couple of deep brown, barely used shelves and two chocolate brown sofas. Karin frowned slightly and she walked into the kitchen. It was a nice shade of yellow, and again the room had a nice sort of welcoming feel to it, but it was bare apart from the cupboards and the table. She stuck her head round the corner of another room which was just a study, full of files and such. Not really being interested in his study Karin walked up the stairs for a second time that evening. Karin was slightly surprised to learn that the house had two bedrooms but she supposed that previous captains had preferred it that way.
Karin had already seen the smaller of the two, it was the one she had put Yoona in. It had a double bed, but it didn't have much else except for a desk that could pass as a table. Three of the walls were cream but the fourth was a deep purple. Karin took a quick glance at the bathroom, which was typically blue. Karin stared in awe for a moment, it was huge. There was light-coloured laminate flooring instead of carpet, a bathtub large enough to fit at least 4 people, a shower and expensive looking white towels. While Karin was walking to the biggest bedroom, which she assumed to be Tōshirō's, it dawned on her how much money Tōshirō must make from being a captain. He had never given her a rich person sort of impression, so she had never thought about it before, but logically Tōshirō must get paid a hell of a lot for being a captain.
Karin gasped when she entered the main bedroom. It was huge. She guessed it was the same size, or maybe a little smaller, than the living room. Again instead of carpet there was laminate flooring only this time it was a dark colour. Somewhat similar to the other bedroom three of the walls were a light colour (blue) while the fourth was a darker blue. Karin didn't know how big the bed was, but it was certainly bigger than a double. The bed was pushed up against the wall, leaving a large space in the middle which had a white rug on it. She walked over to the bedside table where there was two framed photos. The first one had two photos in, one of them was a photo of Hinamori and Rangiku, and the other one was a photo of a very young, reluctant looking Tōshirō who was being hugged by a young looking Hinamori, with an old woman, who Karin assumed was Tōshirō's grandmother smiling at the back. 'So cute...' Karin picked up the second frame, surprised with what she saw. It was a photo of her wearing a yukata, probably taken at the last Tanabata festival, the one what took place about a month or so before they left. She wasn't looking at the camera, she was just looking like she was having a good time, she had a natural grin on her face.
It was obvious that he had moved the photo of Rangiku and Hinamori so it would share the larger frame to give the photo of her it's own frame. Karin wasn't sure why but that simple gesture almost made her heart melt. She put the frame back in its place and sat down gently on the bed, not sure what to do with herself. She was about to get up again when a pair of arms wrapped round her. "Hey."
"Fuck Tōsh. You scared me."
Tōshirō smirked and moved to sit next to Karin. "I assume Yoona's asleep?"
"Yeah I stuck her in the other room. You've eaten now right?" Tōshirō nodded. "What do you wanna do now?"
"There's something we can do?"
"This house is dusty as hell, it wouldn't be a bad idea to clean it, especially if Yoona and I are moving in soon."
XxXxXxXxXxX
Karin collapsed onto one of the sofas, utterly spent. She had managed to vacuum all of the downstairs rooms while Tōshirō was working on organising the house for two extra people, most of the working having to be done in the kitchen. After 5 minutes or so Tōshirō lied down on the other sofa, greeting Karin as he did. Karin sighed heavily. "And to think we have to do this regularly. How did you manage it before you half moved out?"
"I didn't really. I paid someone else to clean it for me."
"Fuck, how much money do you earn!"
"Enough."
"I'll say. I don't get why you don't have more things though."
Tōshirō's eyes narrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Well you earn more than enough, but you don't really have many belongings."
"I never have time for anything."
Karin sat up, half glaring at Tōshirō, half pitying him. "Except you do. If you didn't, you wouldn't be able to spend time with me, or look after Yoona while being employed which you have done this entire time, and you get all of your paperwork submitted by the deadlines, so lack of time is not the issue...Did you seriously just lack interest?" Tōshirō shifted uncomfortably. "Seriously? People told me that you were an ice cold person that didn't do anything but work, but seriously?"
Tōshirō sat up and looked at Karin, despite how uncomfortable he felt. "Well...Yeah. Rin, I've told you about my past. After all of the times I screwed up I just buried myself in work or training to distract myself from those times. And...I didn't feel like I should be...having fun."
Karin got up from her seat and punched Tōshirō in the arm. Tōshirō knew full well she was holding back but it still hurt like hell. "Tōsh, you're an idiot. None of those were your fault, anyone will tell you that. Just because you've made a couple of mistakes, just like everybody else has, doesn't mean you shouldn't have fun. Intelligence-wise, you're a fucking legend, emotion-wise? You're a complete idiot."
Tōshirō sighed heavily. "I know. Luckily I have you to hit me when I'm being an idiot."
Karin raised an eyebrow. "That is not what I am here for."
"I know, it's a bonus. Rin, you don't realise how lucky I feel. I have no idea what I did to deserve you. I'm not that cold person any more, and it's all because of you. If I hadn't met you I'd probably still be that cold person."
"Tch. Talk about cheesy. I know you aren't like that any more, if anything I probably know that best, it's just...when I walked into this house I realised just how bare it was. All you have is necessities. All work and no play is not good for a person. It probably contributed to your lack of height. Well, when you know, you were smaller than me."
"You're actually just worried about me aren't you?"
"Well yeah...and..."
"And?"
"I'm little edgy."
"Care to enlighten me? Why?"
"Renji came to see me earlier, just a brief meeting. He said that with a little training I could be given a seat in one of the squads."
"That's great! Why does that make you edgy?"
Karin heavily sighed before she sat down next to Tōshirō. "Because I don't want to do it like that."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't want to go straight into the seated positions in a squad just because I happen to be a Kurosaki."
"I doubt that's the only reason."
"But it's a lot of it. I don't want to get special treatment just because I was born in the family I was. I said I wanted to become a shinigami properly, and that's what I'm gonna do."
Tōshirō sighed and nodded, knowing what she wanted to do. "You want to enrol into the academy."
"Basically."
Tōshirō sighed again and leaned back onto the sofa. "That can't be that hard to manage. I doubt you'll be there for very long. It'll probably take you a couple months at most considering your previous experience."
"What about Yoona?"
"I'll manage. I'm sure certain people wouldn't mind helping out, your sister would be a good choice."
Karin smiled and leant against Tōshirō. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"Letting me go to the academy."
"I don't have to give you permission for you to go. If you want to go nothing's gonna stop you."
"I'm not so sure any more."
"Huh?"
"If Yoona asked me not to go and you didn't quite support me, I don't think I'd be able to go."
"I'm always going to support you."
"I know, it's just that I know how easy it would be to ask me to stay, especially if you consider Yoona."
"I know what you mean, but I know you want to do this, so I'm not gonna stop you."
"And that's what I'm thanking you for!"
"Oh I see."
"You're being a little slow. Then again, it's late."
Tōshirō got up and stretched. "You bring up a good point. I'm going to bed. Are you coming too or?"
Karin raised an eyebrow. "I'm tired and there's nothing to do. So yeah, time for bed." When they were walking up the stairs Karin suddenly figured out that she had no idea which bed she was sleeping in. While she liked sleeping in the same bed as Yoona, she couldn't sleep in the same bed as Karin forever, and a new start like moving house would probably be a good opportunity to start weaning her off that night time support. And to be honest, she kinda wanted to sleep in the same bed as Tōshirō. As cliché as it was, he made her feel safer. But she couldn't just invite herself to his bed. Luckily her prayers were answered when they had reached the top of the stairs. Rather awkwardly, Tōshirō asked which room she wanted to sleep in, and apparently her face must've given it away. He gestured her to go into the main bedroom to change while he went to the bathroom.
Karin sighed slightly while folding her clothes. She wanted to go to the academy, and she had already decided that she was going, in a couple days too (there was no point delaying it) and she had no idea how she was going to tell Yoona. Not to mention it kind of annoyed her that the second she got settled here she'd be off again. Her thoughts were interrupted by Tōshirō knocking on the door, asking if it was safe to go in. That was another thing. She didn't feel any pressure from Tōshirō to do anything, he let her do what she wanted. Even in middle school she remembered the guys making the occasional vulgar joke about sex and such things. She always felt uncomfortable back then. These days things like that didn't bother her, but the thought of sex with Tōshirō made her a little nervous, but he didn't care. She doubted he was anywhere near that point though, when she thought about it. She really did feel safe around him. Tōshirō closed the bedroom door behind him, offered Karin a smile and got into the bed. He closed his eyes and waited for Karin to finish folding her clothes and get into the bed so he could turn the light off. Truth be told, he was absolutely exhausted.
I can't really say much about this to be honest, it took me ages to write this so I kinda just wanted to get it posted. XD Have you ever done that thing where you end up spending weeks on something like a project and you just want to get it done and out of the way? I hope that made sense XD And I seriously hope that this chapter turned out ok. I wanted to write about Aizen's death in more detail, but I dunno I couldn't quite bring myself to do it. I don't think I can write such gruesome things in detail XD I also wanted to write Ichigo in a different way to other people. A lot of writers have him react like an idiot (well he kinda is one XD) but I wanted to do it differently. I think in this sort of situation he wouldn't act quite so stupidly. XD But yeah, I hope you liked this chapter! The next one or two chapters will probably be just tying all the loose ends up and LOADS of fluff. *le cries* Yes, it's near to the end, I'm going to miss writing it. However in my absense I've been attacked by about 5 different HitsuKarin plot bunnies so please, look forward to those and the next one or two chapters ^^ I hope you liked this chapter ^^